Friday, Oct 03, 2003
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Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram
By Our Staff Reporter
The removal of sand from the riverbanks upstream has raised fears that it would choke the intake well and cut off the main source of water to the project. The illegal activity is concentrated on the eastern bank of the river at Adimadakku where excavators are used to carve up large tracts of land and extract sand. The City Corporation, which is implementing the water supply scheme, is helpless as the area comes under the jurisdiction of the Vilavoorkal panchayat. Last week, the Corporation Council had adopted an adjournment motion urging the Government to take immediate steps to check illegal sand-mining. The Rs.3-crore project, which is the first such scheme to be implemented by a local body, is designed to supply water to the parched areas in the Thrikkannapuram, Mudavanmugal, Poojappura and Chengalloor wards. Taken up under the Plan Campaign, the scheme is being executed by the Kerala Water Authority. The construction of a well-cum-pump house for the project has been completed. Water sourced from the river will be routed through the pump house to a treatment plant. After purification, it will be fed to a service reservoir at Kunnubungalow through a gravity main from where it will be distributed through a network of pipes. In 2000, the Corporation deposited Rs.2.2 crores with the Kerala Water Authority to execute and maintain the project. An amount of Rs.25 lakhs was spent on acquiring land. The Thirumala ward councillor, Puthankada Vijayan, who moved an adjournment motion in the Corporation Council, said the District Collector, the Kerala Water Authority, Irrigation Department and the Vilavoorkal panchayat had been petitioned to launch a crackdown. "So far, there has been no response to our plea and sand-mining continues unhindered," he says. The District Collector, K.R. Muraleedharan, said he would examine the complaint and take action. Scientists confirm that the removal of sand banks from the upstream areas has the potential to divert water flow in the river and affect groundwater retention. They warn that the intake in the well could also run dry during the summer months. Geologists say that extensive sand-mining also depletes the ground water table and affects the stability of river banks leading to the loss of whole chunks of land and making large areas flood- prone. In a bid to control the environmental damage posed by large-scale sand quarrying, the Government has launched a crackdown on illegal sand quarrying from rivers in 1992. But the handsome returns from the construction industry and the lack of a proper monitoring mechanism have kept the clandestine business alive. The Revenue Department, on the basis of a High Court order, has set up a river management committee and directed local bodies to adhere to strict conditions for seasonal sand-mining. The conditions stipulate that sand can be removed only 300 metres away from bridges and 10 metres away from each bank. But, authorities admit that the illegal activity continues unhindered in prohibited areas. Even in the permitted stretches, the regulations are flouted with impunity. Revenue officials admit that they have even come across cases where excavators are used for illegal removal of sand.
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