While the State government is planning to revive the three-decade-old Kuriarkutty-Karapara Multipurpose Scheme as a lasting solution to the drinking water crisis in Chittur taluk of Palakkad district, activists are terming the project an environmental catastrophe in the making.
Pending with the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests all these years, the ₹550-crore project is expected to ensure safe drinking water for the entire taluk apart from irrigating 29,000 acres and generating 198 million units of power a year. However, greens say that the project, on implementation, would destroy the majestic Athirapally waterfall apart from spelling doom to the Chalakudy river. Moreover, it would destroy 76.094 hectares of virgin forest land apart from 764.972 hectares of environmentally fragile private land in the hill station of Nelliampathy. As per studies conducted by the Chalakudy River Protection Forum and Thrissur-based River Research Centre, the project would cause enormous damage to the Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary, where the Chalakudy river originates. As a result, the Chalakudy Irrigation and Drinking Water Scheme would be affected.
Tunnel across hills
According to P. Rajaneesh of the forum, the scheme as such envisages construction of three reservoirs across Karappara, Pulikkal, and Kuriyarkutty rivers, forming tributaries of the Chalakudy river, to impound a total storage of 9.5 mcft of water. This involves an inter-basin transfer of water from Chalakudy to Bharathapuzha. This can be made possible only through the construction of a tunnel across the Nelliampathy hills to divert water from the last of the series of reservoirs of Kuriyarkutty to Cheppakad in the Muthalamada area.
Threat to livelihood
The dams and tunnel would cause huge environmental problems, affecting the flora and fauna of the Nelliampathy-Parambikulam region, apart from causing livelihood destruction of the local community, he said.
“The diversion of the Karapara river from the already depleted Chalakudy river basin will cause acute water shortage in the Chalakudy plains. Paddy fields of 11,147 hectares at present — irrigated by 260 km-long canals of Thumburmuzhi diversion scheme in two taluks by the Chalakudy Irrigation Project constructed in 1950s — will go waste. Even if paddy production in the Chittur taluk goes up, it will be more than offset by the loss of Chalakudy,” Rajaneesh said.
The Kerala Forest Research Institute that conducted an environmental impact study of the proposed project had earlier found it as misconceived and, if implemented, would cause irreparable damage to the Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary.
“The project is economically unviable and ecologically disastrous. It is conceived for the benefit of timber and construction lobbies alone,” Rajaneesh alleged.
