Rs.1.56 crore to save Edakkad rivulet from imminent death

The rivulet in Kozhikode city has turned into a rubbish dump

BETTER DAYS AHEAD? The Edakkad rivulet, once a major freshwater fishinghub in Kozhikode city, is a victim of garbage menace now. Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup

The State government has sanctioned Rs.1.56 crore to clean the Edakkad rivulet, a major biodiversity spot in the City Corporation limits that has been reduced to a rubbish dump.

A Government Order issued by the Water Resources Department has sanctioned the amount to deepen and widen the rivulet, a part of the arterial Canoly Canal which flows into the Korapuzha, a perennial river and major source of water for the district. The GO, issued on November 8, had revised the original estimate of the work from Rs.78.5 lakh to Rs.1.56 crore.

The 11.2-km Canoly canal, connecting the Kallai river and the Korapuzha, is also a victim of the growing garbage menace and flow of untreated waste water from private hospitals in the city. Moreover, destruction of its sidewalls and growth of wild vegetation have also taken a toll on the century-old canal. The Edakkad rivulet is one of the last stops for the canal before it merges with Korapuzha.

In August this year, the government had sanctioned Rs.2.41 crore to de-silt and deepen the Canoly canal from Elathur to Kallai as part of a National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)-assisted project to revive the inland waterway. The project, estimated at Rs.4.6 crore, was approved by the Shipping and Navigation Department. However, no apparent change in the state of the canal is visible till date.

“Ten years ago, the water was clean. This rivulet was a major freshwater fishing hub in the city. There was a large fishing community living along this rivulet, fish stalls used to be set up in the evenings to sell the day’s catch. Now, with the water polluted, there is no fish, no fishermen here,” S.K. Sivarajan, secretary, Jwala Residents Association, said.

Residents say the rivulet was once supported by paddy fields on both sides. Kaipurathupalam

chaali (pond), which supports a km of mangroves, is slowly being encroached upon by small hollow-brick making units.

“The paddy fields have been filled and the rivulet has more or less dried up as a result. Instead, the water is filled with plastic garbage and waste water from the city’s hospitals,” T.V. Praveen, a resident, said.

Locals are also suspicious of a government plan to dispose off treated water from the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital to the Canoly Canal via Mavoor Road. They have doubts about its efficacy and believe that it will ultimately lead to further pollution of the canal waters.

“The waste that you see in the rivulet is flowing from parts of the canal near Mavoor Road. For years, the water and garbage from the medical college hospital has destroyed the ecology in that area, now it will reach us too,” Mr. Sivarajan said.

Edakkad Corporation Councillor K.V. Baburaj said that two years ago there was an effort on the side of the Irrigation Department to clean the water and strengthen the side walls along the rivulet. “But things went back to the same,” he said.