Kerala - Pathanamthitta   

Plea to set up Pampa river basin authority

By Our Staff Reporter

PATHANAMTHITTA, SEPT. 12. The Pampa Parirakshana Samithi (PPS), a Kozhencherry-based eco-group, has urged the Government to take immediate steps to implement various pollution-abatement schemes in the Pampa river as part of the proposed Pampa Action Plan.

In a statement issued here today, the PPS general secretary, N.K. Sukumaran Nair, alleged that the official indifference towards checking pollution of the river during the annual Sabarimala pilgrim season was posing health risks to the people living in the Pampa river basin.

Mr. Nair alleged that both the Government and the Travancore Devaswom Board were guilty of criminal negligence towards the `pollution bomb' in the Pampa.

`Government indifferent'

Though the Union Ministry for Forests and Environment had included the Pampa in the National River Conservation Programme and had accorded administrative as well as financial sanction for the first phase of the programme comprising 11 projects at Pampa and Sabarimala, the State Government was yet to initiate necessary follow-up action for reasons best known to it, he alleged.

The PPS general secretary urged the Government to set up a Pampa River Basin Authority to facilitate the "fool-proof" implementation of the proposed Pampa Action Plan.

According to him, the TDB should take measures to create awareness among the devotees on the need to keep the Pampa and its surroundings clean.

Sand-mining

Another grave issue facing the Pampa is the indiscriminate river sand-mining, even from the prohibited areas.

Mr. Nair said the Pampa was facing a `slow death' owing to the rampant sand collection from the riverbed over the past several years.

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