Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Students pledge to protect rivers

— Photo: S. Gopakumar

Fluvial cause: Poet O.N.V. Kurup administering an oath to students on the banks of Karamana river on Wednesday as part of the River Day celebrations organised by the Nadi Samrakshana Samiti.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Minister for Water Resources N.K. Premachandran has stressed the need for a joint authority to check the ecological degradation of rivers and protect them. Inaugurating a science seminar organised at the NSS College for Women, Neeramankara, to mark the River Day celebrations on Wednesday, he said sand-mining was responsible for the plight of most of the rivers in the State.

Mr. Premachandran proposed a joint authority including representatives of the Pollution Control Board, Health department and Revenue department to impose restrictions on sand mining from rivers.

He also underlined the need for a panchayat-level awareness programme to ensure the safety of drinking water.

The River Day celebrations were organised by the Kerala Nadi Samrakshana Samiti with assistance from the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment and the State Pollution Control Board. Samiti president P.S. Gopinathan Nair presided over the function. General secretary of the Samiti S.Seetharaman, college principal C.R. Susheela Devi and registrar of the Kerala Forest Research Institute C.M.Joy were present on the occasion.

In a paper presented on the occasion, N.K. Sukumaran Nair, general secretary, Pamba Samrakshana Samithi highlighted the urgent need for identifying a substitute for river sand in the construction industry in Kerala.

He pointed out that dams constructed as part of the major power projects in the State had not used river sand for construction.

Earlier, poet O.N.V.Kurup administered a pledge to school and college students at a function organised on the banks of the Karamana river.

The River Day is observed every year to highlight the plight of rivers and create public awareness about the need to protect them from ecological degradation.

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