Mushrooming growth of tourism properties and illegal cultivation are posing serious threat to the Karapuzha reservoir, a multi-purpose project in the district.
This is the first such project that was planned with a view to utilise 2.7 tmcft (thousand million cubic feet) of water of the 21 tmcft awarded to the State by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal under the Kabani river basin.
A recent study of the Kerala Engineering Research Institute, Peechi, reveals that 34 percent of the dead storage of the reservoir has been filled with silt.
Close to 45 multi-storeyed tourism properties have been functioning in the catchment area of the reservoir. Many construction activities are reportedly against the norms of the Dam Security Authority (DSA) and the Pollution Control Board.
“Some property owners have encroached upon government land that had been acquired for the reservoir,” R. Ramanathan, a tribal activist in the area, said.
Such activities had resulted in silt being deposited in the reservoir. Pollution from the properties is another concern as it would affect the drinking water projects of many local bodies.
As much as 1,238 ha of land had been acquired for the reservoir a few decades ago, of which 75 cents of land each has been disbursed to 168 tribal families as a part of a resettlement project, apart from 20 cents of land each to 199 families, who had encroached on the land.
Many a time people from outside would cultivate cash crops such as plantain and ginger on the land by providing rent to the land owners, he added.
However, the Irrigation Department sources said that they were helpless as the government was yet to notify the reservoir as a protected area under the Defence of India Act 1962.
“We have brought the issues in to the notice of senior officials and asked them to mandate the NOC of the DSA before starting any activities inside the reservoir,” the sources added.
