The river rejuvenation and relinking campaign taken up by NGOs and supported by the State government entered a crucial phase with the beginning of sowing operations after more than quarter of a century in the abandoned paddy fields in the river basin of the Meenachil- Meenanthara- Kodoor rivers which are being relinked.
Speaking at the inauguration of the sowing operations at the Paalamuri paddy fields near Manarcadu on Saturday, Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar said the revival of the 1,100-acre paddy fields that formed the basin of the riverine system was one of the finest example of the success of the Haritha Keralam project of the State government.
Paddy cultivation and rejuvenation of the riverine system were complementary as farming will help to keep the groundwater level up and help the basin to act as an effective water reservoir.
According to him, there is approximately 1,00,000 acres of paddy fields now lying fallow. “The government envisages to covert these fallow lands into rich paddy fields,” he said and added that no one had the right to keep paddy fields fallow.
The river relinking campaign had opened up not only the three main rivers, Menachil, Meenanthara and Kodoor, but also a host of smaller rivulets which acted as smaller waterways.
These rivulets had fed the vast expanses of paddy fields with ample water.
With these system, which had remained dead for more than quarter of a century, getting opened up, paddy cultivation too is expected to make a comeback in the area.
Meanwhile, the NGOs are now engaged in an effort to bring back sugarcane cultivation in the Kidangoor area. The jaggery produced from the molases of the sugarcane cultivated here was famed as ‘Kottayam Sarkara’ or ‘Kidangoor Sarkara.’
