Drought forcing animals out of interior forests

Radhakrishnan Kuttoor, Pathanamthitta

The Hindu,  March 17, 2019

 

The Pampa river is facing acute water scarcity in the foothills of Sabarimala despite the Kerala State Electricity Board periodically releasing water from its Kullar dam in the upstream forest reaches.
But the KSEB is not in a position to release huge quantities of water from its dams into the Pampa during the summer months.
Pilgrims find it difficult to have their customary holy dip in the river prior to trekking to Sabarimala owing to the low water level, which is ankle-deep on many stretches.
The drought in the forest interiors is forcing wild animals to stray into human habitations in the forest fringes of Sabarimala, Ranni, and Konni.
A tiger was spotted in the forests behind the Ayyappa Seva Sanghom camp on the banks of the Pampa on Friday night. There were also reports of leopards and elephants straying out of the forests at Pampa, Plappally, and Sabarimala in search of food and water.

No attack reported

Forest officials attribute this to the acute water scarcity and shortage of food inside the forests during the summer months. However, no wild animal attack on humans has been reported.
The changes in the forest ecosystem owing to climate change and excessive human intervention have been identified as the major factors forcing wild animals to stray into human habitations, where they can pick cattle and dogs as easy prey.
The pressure on the forest fringes due to cultivation and an increase in wildlife population is another factor.
The mushrooming of granite quarries along the forest borders has also contributed to the situation. Unscrupulous quarrying has reportedly led to depletion of the groundwater table in the region.

 

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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.

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Varattar rejuvenation soon

The Hindu,  PATHANAMTHITTA May 03, 2017

The State government will soon prepare a comprehensive action plan to rejuvenate the Varattar river, a tributary of the Pampa, and execute the same in a time-bound manner, Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Issac has said.
The Minister was inspecting the badly degraded Varattar riverbed at Othera-Puthukkulangara, near Thiruvalla, on Monday. Dr Issac said the present sad state of affairs with the Varattar was nothing but a man-made tragedy. The nine-km-long Varattar, a natural flood escape of floodwater between the rivers Pampa and Manimala, has its origin from the Pampa at Puthukkulangara.
The Varattar mouth opens into the Pampa at Meppuram and meanders through Thaimaravumkara, Thalayar, Nannad and Thriuvanavandoor, before it merges with the Manimala at Vaalathode, near Eramallikkara, in Alappuzha district. The once-prolific river is almost dry, leaving heavily weeded small patches of water and narrow streams at certain points.
This is due to the indiscriminate sand-mining that had blocked the natural water flow between the Varattar and the Pampa four decades ago.
Varattar is, perhaps, the worst affected water source in the illegal encroachment spree the Central Travancore region had witnessed over the past four decades.
A major portion of the riverbed have been encroached upon by private parties.
Some of them have even managed to obtain ‘possession certificates’ from the authorities concerned for the encroached portion of the land in their possession.
Study under way
The Minister said he had discussed the matters concerning rejuvenation of Varattar with the Water Resources Minister Mathew T. Thomas and the government would convene a meeting of major stakeholders soon.
The Water Resources Department had already started studies on Varattar rejuevanation and a scientific wetland planning would be made to ensure sustainable flow of the river.
Dr Issac said the causeways that hinder the smooth flow of the river would be demolished and bridges would be constructed at all these places. He said fund would be implemented as part of the Pampa Action Plan. Veena George, MLA; T.N. Seema, Haritha Keralam Mission deputy chairperson; K. Ananthagopan, Kerala Shops and Commercial Establishment Workers Welfare Fund Board chairman, and N. Rajeev, Eraviperoor panchayat vice-president, were present.

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Wetland turns a ‘weedland’

Radhakrishnan Kuttoor
PATHANAMTHITTA, 
The Hindu, February 2, 2016

Varaalchal, a vast wetland in the flood plain area of the Pampa river at Koipram, near Aranmula, heavily weeded and silted, could do with a few immediate steps for rejuvenation. World Wetlands Day, celebrated on February 2 every year, should serve as a reminder for authorities in this regard.

The once water-rich Varaalchal’s plight has left its immediate surroundings with not less than 2,000 households water-scarce during summer. The 2.5-km-long, 150-metre-wide natural stream, lying between Koipram and Poovathoor, is known for its rich biodiversity, especially the inland fish species of Channa (Varaal as is locally known). Now, this water source is covered with thickets of grass and cabomba weeds.

Pampa Parirakshana Samiti (PPS) general secretary N.K. Sukumaran Nair attributes this sad state of affairs to the drastic depletion of groundwater and lowering of the Pampa riverbed owing to indiscriminate river sand-mining over the past four decades. The lowering of the Pampa riverbed has blocked the water flow between the Varaalchal and the Pampa, except during floods in the monsoon season, says Mr. Nair. K.N. Karunakaran, retired teacher and a local resident, says that fisherfolk who used to eke out a living by inland fishing in Varaalchal are unable to even enter the heavily weeded wetland.

Mr. Nair called upon the State Biodiversity Board as well as the local self-government institutions to initiate urgent measures for the rejuvenation of Varaalchal. He said efforts must focus on the restoration of the natural ability of wetland to detoxify wastes, control floods, restore soil fertility, expunge weeds, purge pollutants, destroy disease-causing organisms, and support a diversity of aquatic and bird lives.

The guidelines of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands have clearly spelt out norms for conservation and wise management of wetlands. “The Ramsar guidelines state that people are an important part of the ecology and their livelihood is an important contributor to the economy of the region.”

Mr. Nair said cultivation in not less than 500 acres of paddy fields in the close vicinity of the Varaalchal had become a thing of the past.

 

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HC comes to the rescue of Pampa

K.C. Gopakumar KOCHI,
 The Hindu, October 17, 2015

Concerned at the aggravation of the pollution of the Pampa, a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Friday ordered that throwing of clothes and other belongings into the river by the Sabarimala pilgrims be considered an offence under the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act.

It directed that those acting to the contrary should be proceeded against under the provisions of the Act.

The Bench comprising Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice Anu Sivaraman, while dealing with a case relating to the affairs of the Sabarimala temple, observed that abundant materials before the court and various reports of the State Pollution Control Board and other agencies categorically showed beyond the shadow of doubt that the river was being constantly polluted.

Discarding of huge quantities of clothes and other belongings had aggravated pollution of the river.

The court pointed out that there was absolutely no practice or religious tenets which advised a person, after having darshan at the temple, to discard the clothes and other belongings which he worn into the river. Therefore, no such practice could be permitted under “the camouflage” of freedom of practice of religion under Article 25 of the Constitution.

The court said Section 24 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act prohibited dumping of materials into a stream or a river which impeded the flow of its waters.

The discarding of clothes or any material or other personal belongings — biodegradable or not — into the waters of the Pampa by any person amounted to violation of Section 24 and the person doing it could be proceeded against. The section prescribed a prison term of a year-and-a-half.

Those who advised pilgrims to discard clothes into the river could be proceeded against for the offence of abetment under Section 109 of the IPC.

 

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