The Hindu : Residents demolish bund across Kallada project canal

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 21, 2004

Kerala

Kerala - Pathanamthitta

Residents demolish bund across Kallada project canal

By Our Staff Reporter

PATHANAMTHITTA, FEB. 20. Hundreds of local people, under the banner of the Joint Action Council, on Thursday demolished the temporary bund in the Angadickal distribution canal of the Kallada Irrigation Project (KIP) at Thalayara in Vallicaud grama panchayat.

The bund had been obstructing the free flow of water in the main canal from Thalayara to Vatttamuruppelpadi leading to the Vettakulam paddy fields to empty out into the River Achenkoil.

G. Sasidharan Nair, M. Gopinathan and Joseph John, the leaders of the action council, alleged that the residents of the Vallicaud grama panchayat have been pleading in vain for the removal of the bund, which had been blocking the water flow in the canal for the past 21 years.

Meanwhile, private parties had encroached upon the canal along many stretches in the downstream portion to cultivate plantain, tapioca, and so on, and the KIP authorities had taken no steps to clean the canal in the area, Mr. Sasidharan Nair, former panchayat president, alleged.

He said that the local people were forced to remove the bund and clear the canal in the face of acute water scarcity in different parts of the panchayat. He alleged that the KIP authorities were indifferent to the requests of the people to remove the bund to facilitate the free flow of water in the canal.

He said that hundreds of local people, including women and children, participated in the work to clear the canal. The clearance of the canal along a 2.5 km stretch will be over in the next two days, Mr. Nair said.

The KIP and the panchayat authorities visited the spot today.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Kerala

News Update

Stories in this Section

Residents demolish bund across Kallada project canal

Crime Branch police station inaugurated