The Hindu : Kuriarkutty-Karappara project remains a pipedream

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 23, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Kuriarkutty-Karappara project remains a pipedream

By G. Prabhakaran

PALAKKAD, FEB. 22. The inordinate delay in getting Central clearance for the Rs. 550-crore Kuriarkutty-Karappara multi-purpose project has added to the already severe water and power shortage in Palakkad's Chittur taluk. The farmers of Chittur are already feeling the pinch of the severe drought situation in the area following the controversy over the `non-release' of water due to them under the Parambikulam-Aliyar Project agreement between Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

The Kuriarkutty-Karappara project, which envisages release of 4.88 tmc of water to the arid regions of Chittur, is caught in red tape, allegedly owing to the lack of political will on the part of the State Government.

About 29,000 acres of land in Kozhinjampara, Muthalamada, Chemmanampathy and Elavanchery panchayats in Chittur could be irrigated if the project materialises. It could also produce 198 million units of power. The project area receives an average annual rainfall of about 3,600 mm while the Kozhinjampara region receives less than 500 mm a year.

As part of the project, a dam would be built across the Karappara river with a storage capacity of 3.825 tmc and the water diverted through a three-km tunnel for generating electricity at an underground powerhouse. The water from the Kuriarkutty weir will be taken through a 11.29-km power tunnel and 1.47-km penstock to the Kuriarkutty powerhouse. After power generation, the tail water would be collected at the Chulliar dam and used for irrigation purpose in Chittur.

As per the latest proposal, the project implementation would submerge an area of 839.56 hectares, of which 746.972 ha is covered by plantations and 76.904 ha by reserve forests (including 14.30 ha of the Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary.)

Officials of the Kerala State Electricity Board say that the project is not going to create problems for the Chalakudy basin because more than 14 tmc of water spills over from the Poringalkuthu reservoir during the monsoon months to the Chalakudy river. Though the scheme would benefit the water-starved Chittur taluk, it has been denied environmental and forest clearances by the Central Government several times by citing one reason or the other.

The modified Kuriarkutty-Karappara multipurpose project has been denied forest clearance twice. It was denied sanction for the second time in May 2000 stating reasons like "adverse remarks and certificates against the project by the Chief Wildlife Warden of Kerala in the interest of wildlife conservation."

As per the Wildlife Protection Act, 1971, "no alteration of the boundaries of a sanctuary shall be made except on a resolution passed by the Legislature of the State.'' In view of this, a resolution was passed in the State Assembly on September 26, 1996, to exclude an extent of 14.39 ha of forestland falling within the boundaries of the Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary and to alter its boundaries. But the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests did not de-notify the boundaries of the sanctuary.

Official circles point out that the political leadership could not exert sufficient pressure on the Centre to get sanction for the project. The farmers and political parties in the district say that the project would solve the drinking and irrigation water problems in Chittur.

The former member of Parliament from Palakkad, N.N. Krishnadas, alleges that the State Government had dropped the project under pressure from some estate owners in the Nelliampathy hills.

"There are serious doubts among the local people that some estate owners in the area have influenced the decision-making," he says. He wants the State Government to submit a modified project report and put political pressure on the Centre to get sanction to help solve the water problem in Chittur taluk.

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