A seminar on the ‘Impact of National Waterways’ organised by the Prakruthi Samrakshana Samiti here on Friday said that the waterway project was a covert attempt to displace around 10,000 families from their current settlement and fetch its direct benefits to a lobby comprising industrialists, politicians and bureaucrats. Leading environmental activists, who addressed the seminar, observed that the project covering 610 km distance should not be implemented in Kerala without conducting an environmental impact study.
Opening the seminar, environmental activist C.R. Neelakandan said the attempt of the government to implement new national waterway project without even trying to revive the traditional waterway projects in Kochi and Alappuzha was raising several concerns. “It would affect thousands of inland fishers. The idea of linking two rivers itself is a wrong move as each river has got its own identity,” he said. Flaying the reluctance of government agencies and political parties in studying the impact of climate change, Mr. Neelakandan said a majority of the so called development projects completed in Kerala exploiting the natural resources would not have come up if proper environmental impact studies were conducted on time. He also called upon the government to conduct a thorough review of all the existing water transport projects before attempting to take up new ones.
In his keynote address, veteran environmentalist A. Achuthan said the proposed waterway from Kollam to Kasaragod would slowly emerge as a waste water channel with the frequent operation of boats and ships. The gradual deposit of oil and other chemicals would even hit the flow and convert it into an unhealthy spot for the nearby residents, he pointed out.
Expressing doubt over the intention behind the project, Mr. Achuthan said a bigger lobby comprising politicians, industrialists, engineers and bureaucrats was suspected to cash in on the indirect benefits of the project. “People of this State will be aware of its danger only when such projects challenge their own lives,” he said. T.V. Rajan, general secretary of the Paristhithi Samrakshana Samiti who delivered the presidential address, said the multi-crore waterway was suggesting the creation of four artificial waterways to link major rivers in the northern Kerala region under the project. “In the Malabar region alone, nearly 92 bridges, 15 rail overbridges and 62 small bridges will have to be reconstructed,” he claimed.
