Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Padmatheertham under threat

Thiruvananthapuram: Heavy sewage inflow is polluting the waters of the Padmatheertham temple tank, one of the oldest water bodies in the city, even as a project to restore the water body remains bogged down.

The old pipeline designed to bring freshwater from the Killi river at Kochar to the pond, today carries raw sewage from the northern side of the pond. Local people fear that they are exposed to a public health hazard. They point out that the recent encroachment on a narrow strip of land near the pond has made it easy to conceal the source of sewage discharge.

Acting on a complaint filed by the district committee of the Siva Sena, the Revenue administration carried out an inspection on the northern side of the pond on Wednesday. Tahsildar Krishnakumar issued directions to clear the encroachment. He said the city Corporation and the Kerala Water Authority would be asked to carry out a joint inspection to identify the source of pollution.

The Siva Sena launched an agitation on Wednesday demanding immediate steps to check the pollution of the water body.

According to officials, the absence of inflow and drainage had led to stagnation of the water in the temple tank. Last year, the Revenue Divisional Officer had directed the Irrigation Department to clear the blocks in the old iron pipeline from Marunthukuzhy to East Fort through the Kochar road. The restoration project however failed to take off.

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