Walking to revive a near-dead Varattar

Radhakrishnan Kuttoor, PATHANAMTHITTA 
The Hindu, May 11, 2017

Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac will lead a ‘river walk’ along the Varattar, a more or less dead tributary of the Pampa, on May 29 as part of the government’s proposed Varattar rejuvenation project. The initiative is to collect first-hand information on the original boundaries of the river, spread across Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha districts.
The nine-km Varattar was a perennial freshwater source linking the Pampa and the Manimala rivers till its degradation started four decades ago. Dr. Isaac visited the Varattar river mouth near Othera-Puthukkulangara during an official programme of the Eraviperoor grama panchayat on May 1. The once prolific river is almost dry now, with heavily weeded patches of water and narrow streams at certain points. Indiscriminate sand-mining over the past four decades drastically lowered the riverbeds of the Pampa and the Manimala, blocking the natural water flow between the two rivers through the Varattar.

House panel inspection

An inspection by the Legislative Committee on Environment in 2002 found that almost two-third of the Varattar riverbed had been encroached upon for cultivating tapioca, paddy, vegetables, and fodder. Concrete structures too have come up on the riverbed at certain points. In its report to the government, the panel recommended rejuvenation of the Varattar, saying it could be a boon to the water-scarce river basin. The river was once a water channel for the kettuvalloms (cargo boats) from Alappuzha to Aranmula.

Meeting planned

Water Resources Minister Mathew T.Thomas will convene a meeting in Thiruvananthapuram to prepare a draft rejuvenation plan for the Varattar. Dr. Isaac too will attend the meeting.
Local body chiefs of the Thiruvanvandoor municipality as well as the grama panchayats of Thiruvanvandoor, Eraviperoor, Kuttoor, and Koipram too will accompany Dr. Issac in the ‘river walk’. Eraviperoor panchayat vice-president N.Rajeev said the panchayat resumed 12 acres of river poromboke from encroachers in 2015. Dr. Isaac said the government was planning to include the Varattar rejuvenation plan in the Harita Keralam project. He said Central funds would also be sought under the Pampa Action Plan.