Sole beneficiary is the sand lobby

Hardly 20 days after the dams in its watershed area were overflowing because of heavy rain, Kerala’s second largest river, the Bharathapuzha, has now turned into a trickle raising questions regarding the drinking water and irrigation needs of people living in 175 grama panchayats and a dozen municipalities in Palakkad, Malappuram and Thrissur districts.

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Pumping of drinking water from the river at Ottappalam, Shoranur, Vaniyamkulam, Ambalapara and Lakkidi remains affected because of poor water flow.

Worst affected

The Ottappalam and Shoranur municipal areas are the worst affected and authorities are planning to supply drinking water in tankers by the beginning of October. Last season, tankers were used only during peak summer.

Almost all streams that spill into the Malampuzha reservoir have started drying up since last week. “In most areas, the flood has deposited sand mounds. Shrubs and weeds are back and no water flow is visible in most parts,” said Bobban Mattumantha, an environmentalist.

“The government had earlier promised to constitute a river board to save the dying river. Though the expert committee appointed by the State government had recommended the creation of a Bharathapuzha River Authority (BDA), nothing concrete has emerged,” says Prasad K. Shoranur, a river protection activist

Newly deposited sand

“Most parts of the 209-km-long river are covered with newly deposited sand. People are worried about water security in the summer months,” said P. Rajesh of Adakkaputhur, who works with the Bharathapuzha River Protection Samithy.

Even though floods left behind despair all around, the sand-mining lobby, which had thrived by desilting the Bharathapuzha and its feeders, finds a scope for better business in the new deposits of sand.

The river-fed areas targeted by the lobby after the floods are Shoranur, Pattambi, Chalissery and Koppam in Palakkad and Chamravattam and Tirur in Malappuram. Bharathapuzha’s feeders such as Gayathri, Kunthi, Karimpuzha and Kalpathy are also on the lobby’s list.