: Participants in a workshop on the Pampa Action Plan have highlighted the need to take concerted action to conserve the Pampa river. “Let’s not do more research and waste time; instead we should act. After all we are not short of funds,” said Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB) chairman Oommen V. Oommen at the workshop here on Saturday. Prof. Oommen and other speakers said the indiscriminate sand-mining, rock quarrying, and encroachment, besides sedimentation of reservoirs and the presence of pesticide residue had reduced the self-replenishing capability of the river.
Among those who made presentations were N.K. Sukamaran Nair, director, Pampa Parirakshana Samiti; P.S. Harikumar, head, Water Quality Division, CWRDM; George Chackacherry, project director, Pampa Action Plan; T.K.A. Nair, former adviser to the Prime Minister; and E.J. James, chairman, Research Council, CWRDM.
