The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Sand-mining posing threat to Vellayani lake

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 24, 2004

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Sand-mining posing threat to Vellayani lake

By T. Nandakumar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, APRIL 23. The Vellayani freshwater lake near Thiruvananthapuram is hurtling towards disaster as large-scale mining of sand from the lakebed threatens to destroy the fragile environment of the water body. Local people are clamouring for an action plan to preserve the lake as a perennial freshwater source, but they are helpless to check the illegal extraction of sand, which has intensified over the last three months.

Truckloads of sand are being removed daily from the lakebed by an organised network of divers, boatmen, loading workers and lorry operators. The clandestine operation continues throughout the night. Enviromental groups have voiced concern over the impact of sand-mining but their pleas to the police and the Revenue authorities have had little effect.

Scientists warn that sand extraction from the lakebed would destroy the acquifier layer that helps retain the water table. They fear that this would, in turn, affect the recharge and freshwater capacity of the lake and also lower the groundwater table in the region. In 1992, the Assembly Committee on Environment had reported about the dangers to the lake and called for a coordinated effort to preserve it, but the Government has been dragging its feet on the proposals.

Sand-mining operations are concentrated in the Kulangara, Vazhavila, Pookode and Koliyoor areas. Expert divers commanding up to Rs.1,000 per day scoop up the sand from the lakebed and dump it into country boats.

A large fleet of lorries transports the sand to construction sites across the district. The extraction of sand leaves deep pits on the lakebed, exposing bathers and tourists to the risk of drowning.

Local people say that the sand-mining operation is driven by a powerful lobby. A well-oiled network of informers keeps a close tab on police movement. Most of the roads in the mining locations have been damaged by the incessant traffic of lorries. The turf war between rival mafias occasionally erupts into violence but such incidents are covered up.

The Head of the Resource Analysis Division at the Centre for Earth Science Studies, K. Soman, says: "The lake stands on a thick bed of sand that forms part of the Varkala sediment. Removing this layer is bound to affect the water table in the region and upset the fragile ecological balance.

The resultant decrease in hydraulic pressure will also lead to salinity intrusion beyond the spillway."

Vellayani is one of the three rain-fed freshwater lakes in Kerala, the other two being the Sasthamcotta lake in Kollam and the Pookkode lake in Wayanad. The lake, which was spread over 750 hectares in 1926, has undergone an alarming rate of depletion in area, now covering hardly 450 hectares.

The lake was a tourist resort during the erstwhile Travancore era. The `Grow more Food' programme launched by the Government in the early 1950s led to the reclamation of vast areas for cultivation.

Bunds were constructed along long stretches to facilitate easy drainage. The lake was being dewatered twice annually for paddy cultivation by the 500-odd farmers.

Replenished by 64 rivulets, the Vellayani lake is about a metre above sea level, permitting easy dewatering through the Madhupalam spillway, near Thiruvallam, which empties into the Karamana river.

Over the years, as local farmers gave up paddy cultivation citing heavy loss, the fields were left fallow. The Kerala Agricultural University, which had a sizeable area under cultivation, also gave up the unremunerative venture.

Large tracts of land on the banks have been reclaimed for real estate development, housing and farming notwithstanding a Government ban.

The lake comes under the administrative control of at least four departments, which often work at cross-purposes, frustrating the scrimpy efforts to preserve it.

Unauthorised removal of laterite soil from the hills in the neighbouring Thiruvallam is another factor that has impacted on the lake and its environs. An Environment Impact Assessment by CESS had pointed out that these operations drastically change not only the `wetland landscape' but also its ecology and habitat characteristics.

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