Braving the steady rain they came out in hordes to support the noble cause for giving a fresh life for a once vibrant river. But for weeded pools and a few slender streams, the Varattar, meaning dry river in Malayalam, is literally dry throughout the year.
Giving new hopes to conservation of nature and water, Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac and Water Resources Minister Mathew T. Thomas led a ‘river walk’ along the dry riverbed.
Walk in the rain
However, the river walk turned out to be a walk in the rain as pre-monsoon showers started gaining strength from morning. But it did not deter the enthusiastic villagers and people’s representatives in the Varattar river basin spread across Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha districts who joined the walk of life for the dry river. The walk began before 7.30 a.m.
They walked from the Varattar river mouth of Vanchippottil-kadavu in Pathanamthitta to Keecherival-kadavu, where the river merges with the Manimala in Alappuzha.
“The government has decided to rejuvenate the Varattar. The Harita Keralam Mission with its director T.N. Seema is here extending support to the project. Today’s river walk is the historic beginning of the State’s first river rejuvenation project,” said Dr. Isaac, addressing an enthusiastic crowd of villagers and environmentalists at Puthukkulangara in the morning.
Veena George and K.K. Ramachandran Nair, MLAs; Annapoornadevi, Pathanamthitta district panchayat president; R.Girija and Veena N.Madhav, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha Collectors; Philipose Thomas, KSFE chairman; Tinku Biswal, Principal Secretary, Water Resources Department; and S.Chandrashekhar, Thiruvalla Subcollector, were there to take the green message to the masses.
The Ministers, wearing headgears made of areca spathes, walked to Eramallikkara, braving intermittent rain.
Schoolchildren were there to pep up the crowd with Vanchippattu.
Workers of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the Kudumbasree Mission and officers of the Water Resources and Revenue Departments too gave vigour to the campaign.
“Illegal sand-mining in the Pampa and Manimala rivers and encroachments on the riverbed have taken the life out of the river,” said a senior citizen to Dr. Isaac during his interaction with villagers en route.
Rampant sand-mining has drastically lowered the Pampa riverbed, which left the Varattar mouth a few metres above the Pampa riverbed, blocking the flow into the Varattar, except during the floods.
The causeway across the Varattar at Vanchippottil-kadavu and the ramp linking Othera and Mangalam villages have also degraded the river.
A meeting was held at Eramallikkara where Dr. Isaac reiterated the government’s commitment to the cause of the river. He said the government would allocate funds for the project in the next Budget.
The Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha Collectors would organise a joint survey and demarcate the boundaries of the Varattar soon.
“Once the water starts flowing through the river, encroachments on the riverbed too would be a thing of the past,” Dr. Isaac said. However, the Minister said the public too had a role in removing encroachments on the riverbed. The organisers ensured that green protocol was followed at the event. Vegetarian breakfast was served in plantain leaves. The participants were served rice gruel in earthenwares.
