Thursday, Dec 16, 2004
Thursday, Dec 16, 2004 |
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By Our Special Correspondent
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, DEC. 15. The Water Resources Minister, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, said here today that the State Cabinet had approved the proposal to set up the Pampa River Development Authority. The Minister also ruled out the question of increasing water charges for domestic connections. Addressing a press conference here today, Mr. Radhakrishnan said the authority would be the nodal agency for coordinating the work to be taken up under the Pampa Action Plan. He said the Centre had already given its clearance to the Rs. 318-crore Pampa Action Plan. It had released Rs.19 crores under this head for various development works under the first phase. The Kerala Water Authority was the designated agency for implementing the plan. But it was now felt that the setting up of the river development authority would be appropriate to coordinate the activities of various departments. Under the Pampa Action Plan, the Travancore Devaswom Board would take up seven major works, while the Water Resources Department would implement four major works, including tackling the issue of pollution of the Pampa. The Minister said the authority would bring about a major change in the Central Travancore belt, focussing its activities on river development.
River valley projects
Mr. Radhakrishnan said that his department proposed to take steps to complete the Meenachil River Valley and the Muvattupuzha River Valley projects with a view to ensuring full benefits to the farming community dependent on the irrigation facilities it provided. The proposal was to bring practical changes to the Meenachil project. With regard to the Muvattupuzha project, the cut-off date would be January-February 2005. The work on the remaining 25 km would be completed to benefit 7,500 hectares of land. Mr. Radhakrishnan said the Karapuzha dam would be plugged in January. It would take two years for the reservoir to fill up after the plugging of the dam, he added. The Minister, who had convened the press conference to mark the completion of the Chief Minister's 100-day programme, said that the department had executed successfully all the 16 major drinking water schemes identified for implementation. There were some projects that had been hanging fire for more than 20 years. As part of the scheme of reaching drinking water to schools, 506 projects were completed.
`Varsha' programme
Under the "Varsha" programme, envisaging rainwater harvesting, the department had completed all the 537 units identified. Another 51 units were taken up for implementation. The Kerala Water Authority had taken up 34 mini schemes over and above the ones taken up for implementation under the 100-day programme. He said that the department had completed two urban drinking water schemes under central assistance costing Rs. 15.58 crores.
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