Kerala   

Sabarimala in the throes of water scarcity

PATHANAMTHITTA: Sabarimala is in the grip of acute water scarcity, making life miserable for the 1,000 people living there.

Two weeks ago, the Kunnar dam, the lone water source about 8 km from the holy hillock in the dense forests, turned dry. In the foothills, the Pampa went dry, affecting water supply through pipelines at Pampa.

Officials of the Travancore Devaswom Board said its tanks at the Sannidhanam had just 20-lakh litres of water on Saturday, one-fifth of their capacity.

A rough estimate shows that 80 lakh litres is required during the five-day monthly puja at the temple, the next of which is from March 16.

At Pampa, the Kerala Water Authority finds it difficult to pump water from its Triveni pump house with the river going dry.

P. Narayanan, devaswom board member, called for immediate intervention of the State government to release water from the reservoirs of Kerala State Electricity Board to the Pampa.

The water scarcity has affected the work on the toilet blocks under way as part of the Sabarimala master plan.

Much of the grasslands in the sacred grove have been lost in a wildfire two weeks ago.

Forest personnel and Vana Samrakshana Samithi (forest protection committee) workers put out the fire.

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