Local residents under the aegis of the Janakeeya Prathirodha Samithi planted 260 saplings close to the Thottappally estuary on Tuesday.
The samithi planted saplings after the authorities cut down 26 casuarina trees near the estuary recently.
Earlier, the State government decided to fell more than 500 trees in the area. A high-level meeting held in May 2019 decided to cut the trees by invoking various sections under the Disaster Management Act.
‘Impede water flow’
The decision was based on an observation made by the Irrigation Department that the trees were impeding flow of water from the Kuttanad region.
Following this, the district administration directed the Forest Department to chop 524 trees, mostly casuarina trees on a plot of land parallel to the Thottappally spillway. However, local residents and environmentalists vehemently opposed the move and thwarted repeated attempts to cut the trees. Despite opposition, a few trees were felled more than a week ago to ensure smooth flow of water from Kuttanad during the heavy downpour.
According to the residents, the move to chop trees is part of a plan to extract mineral-rich sand from the estuary.
The government has earlier given its nod for the Irrigation Department to go ahead with mining sand from the estuary. The Irrigation Department is set to sell the sand to the Indian Rare Earths (IRE)/Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd. (KMML).
‘Interconnected’
Saji Jayamohan of the Green Roots Nature Conservation Forum said that the decision to remove trees and extract mineral sand was interconnected.
“The government is using floods as a reason to fell trees and remove mineral-rich sand from the estuary. To extract sand from the estuary, they need to cut trees. Cutting down trees and large-scale extraction of mineral sand will result in the intrusion of salt water into the Kuttanad region. To prevent flooding in Kuttanad, the authorities need to deepen the leading channel,” he said.
Mr. Jayamohan said that the samithi would organise a protest march from the estuary to the Irrigation Department office at Thottappally on August 22. It will be inaugurated by activist S.P. Udayakumar.
