The silt excavated and deposited on the banks of the Kuttiady river as part of the Room for Rivers project got washed away in the recent rains, raising questions about the effectiveness of the project.
Even though there have been widespread protests by local people and environmentalists against excavation near the river bank, the Department of Irrigation, which is the implementing agency of the project, had gone ahead with the excavation. The sand/silt that was dug up from the river was deposited in an islet near Thattarkandi. This silt was washed away in the rain, back into the river, which made the earlier exercise a huge waste of manpower and money.
The State government is implementing the Room for Rivers project following the model of the Netherlands, which has effectively managed to stay out of danger from floods, even though most of the land is below the sea level. The project is being implemented with an aim to clear all the 44 rivers in the State of silt and garbage that had accumulated in them during the 2018 and 2019 floods. The underbelly of the rivers is being excavated, and the banks are being secured using coir eco-fibres.
Though they are all praise for the Netherlands model, environmentalists have raised questions about the way it is being implemented in Kerala. “Unlike the Netherlands, we are not providing rivers enough room to flow or making an effort to bring water to low-lying lands. Digging up the underbelly of rivers will lead to speeding up of flow. Besides, it is mostly sand that is being dug out of rivers,” said T.V. Rajan, State Secretary of All Kerala River Protection Committee. He added that digging up rivers unscientifically would make them similar to canals and destroy the ecosystem.
“There is also a chance of water level in nearby wells coming down and even intrusion of saltwater. The project is the best example of how a good project can be implemented in a distorted manner, without serving the intended purpose and, in fact, having the opposite effect,” Mr. Rajan said.
