The government has decided in principle to set up a State-level authority for the conservation and management of riverbanks.
The State Cabinet which met here on Monday entrusted the Water Resources Department with holding discussions with other stakeholder departments on the constitution of the Kerala river basin conservation and management authority.
It was after the devastating floods in 2018 that the government started thinking of a holistic method of river basin management.
An approach paper prepared by the Irrigation Department last year envisaged a decentralised system of basin planning with the State-level authority coordinating the efforts of all the stakeholder departments, agencies, and institutions, including local self-governments, within a river basin.
Various levels
The proposed authority will have a governing council chaired by the Chief Minister and an executive committee headed by the Chief Secretary, both at the State level. Cluster-level river basin boards for each region constitute the second tier and basin management committees for individual river basins form the third tier.
For very large basins such as Periyar, Bharathapuzha, Chalakkudipuzha, Pampa, and Chaliyar management committees have been recommended at the sub-basin level.
The approach paper mooted statutory powers for each tier as an overarching mechanism for effective coordination and regulation of the projects and programmes undertaken by the various departments and agencies as part of the strategic basin plans. Monitoring of these projects and programmes would also be the responsibility of the authority.
The governing council would submit recommendations to the government on the inter-basin and intra-basin water transfer and allocations and oversee the inter-State agreements.
Restructuring
The executive committee was tasked with ensuring real time integrated operation of reservoirs in the basin, resolution of water disputes and conflicts through conciliation, and effective measures to prevent water pollution, recommend measures on the basis of “polluter pays principle” and adopt measures to mitigate and manage water-related disasters. The document also proposed restructuring of the Irrigation Department.
