People travelling along the busy Main Central Road in Kottayam will soon be greeted by the breathtaking sights of luscious green carpet of paddy saplings.
Success in cultivation
Buoyed by its success in restoring paddy cultivation in over 4,200 acres of land, the Meenachil - Meenanthara - Kodoor River re-linking collective is now turning its focus to the fallow lands on both sides of the MC Road.
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To begin with, it has identified fallow polders at five key locations including those lying adjacent to the four -lane stretch at Kodimatha, for commencing the farming operations.
“This initiative also seeks to explore the possibility of using paddy cultivation as a tool for developing wayside tourism. The project takes its inspiration from the huge influx of visitors to the rural locations just to witness the green paddy fields,” said K. Anil Kumar, general convener of the re-linking programme.
Based on the response, the project will be expanded to other key stretches including the National Highway.
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According to Mr.Anil, expanding cultivation to places having road frontage, reconstruction of bridges that prevent the natural flow of water and setting up bio-diversity parks on the river banks form the three key projects of the re-linking initiative in the current financial year.
Taking a lesson out of the back to back floods that hit Kottayam since 2018, a new initiative titled ‘Floodless Kottayam’ has been launched to ensure free flow water through streams and rivers. “As part of it, we have identified as many as 45 bridges or culverts that require a reconstruction and the works will be executed through the departments concerned,” he added.
Bio-diversity parks
Meanwhile, works are progressing on the first bio-diversity park to be established by the initiative, which is soon set for a formal launch. Named ‘Thanaloram,’ the park is being established on a 10-acre property on the river banks near Kidangoor.