The Varattar Protection Council has alleged inordinate delay on the part of the revenue authorities in Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha in demarcating the boundaries of the Varattar rivulet that flows through the two districts.
In a statement issued here recently, council secretary A.J. Rajan alleged that the survey wing of the Revenue Department had not yet started the survey of the river poromboke, despite the promises made by the two District Collectors during the ceremonial launch of the Varattar rejuvenation project in May. The government launched the river rejuvenation project under its Haritha Keralam Mission on May 29.
Mr. Rajan said a major portion of the riverbed had been remaining encroached upon over the past several years.
Panel inspection
The State Legislative Committee on Environment had inspected Varattar in 2002 to verify the large-scale encroachment on the riverbed. The panel had observed that almost two-third of the riverbed had been encroached upon by the local population for cultivating tapioca, rice, vegetables, fodder grass, etc. Even permanent residential buildings too have come up on the riverbed.
The panel had recommended that the government take effective steps for the eviction of all the encroachments on the Varattar riverbed, besides cancellation of the ‘possession certificates’ or ‘title deeds’ issued to the encroachers, if any, by the revenue officials concerned. Ironically, no action has been taken so far.
Mr. Rajan has called upon the Collectors of Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha to take necessary steps to survey and demarcate the river poromboke without further delay so that the ongoing river rejuvenation project could be carried forward with added vigour.
He said there were also allegations that the Revenue Department had taken an indifferent attitude towards the ongoing rejuvenation programme.
CM to launch phase II
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will launch the second phase of the Varattar rejuvenation programme at an official function to be held at Puthukkulangara in the Eraviperoor panchayat on September 2, said K.K. Ramachandran Nair, MLA. Water Resources Minister Mathew T. Thomas will preside.
