Going down the drain

Dumping of waste hits rejuvenation of Parvathy Puthanar

Failure to close inlet channels letting out waste from the households and unregulated dumping of waste into the waterway are turning to be a vexed issue for the the rejuvenation of the 18.5-km stretch of waterway from Kovalam to Akkulam that includes the Parvathy Puthanar.

Plastic waste, especially single-use plastics, and poultry waste being dumped into the waterbody even after cleaning and deepening of the six-km stretch from Akkulam to Vallakkadavu and the 200-m stretch from Vallakkadavu to Puthenpalam has upset the project officials engaged in making the canal navigable again.

Recently, Tourism and Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran had to abort the inspection of the waterway half-way through after the propeller of a six-seater boat carrying him and the officials got entangled in sacks of poultry waste.

Dumping of waste into the waterbody continues even after Kerala Waterways and Infrastructure Ltd. (KWIL), tasked with the rejuvenation of the canal, had removed 2,000 tonnes of silt and trash from the Parvathy Puthanar while increasing the depth by 1.5 m.

A high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in July was briefed on the menace of dumping waste into the cleaned-up stretch. The meeting discussed the nine key issues to be addressed on the stretch between Kovalam and Akkulam.

The District Collectors and the Secretary, Local Self Government Department, were asked to take stern steps to prevent dumping of waste into the waterway in all districts. But the meeting in this regard is yet to take place.

To bring to book the culprits, cameras and 2.5-ft high barbed fences had been proposed on the vulnerable stretches of the waterway frequently used for dumping of poultry waste.

On the Vallakkadavu-Kovalam stretch of the waterway, the rejuvenation of the canal can be taken up only if the Perunelli bund is opened. The Chief Minister himself has given a December-2019 deadline for the commissioning of the proposed bridge at Perunelli and March 2020 for the bridge at Vallakkadavu. But, not much headway has been made.

The 160-m waterway near Panathura needs to be opened up to make the canal navigable up to Kovalam again. The construction of the ₹14-crore bridge at Vazhamuttom has also to be taken up.

The project officials had found that the Thekkanakara canal that moves along the Karimadhom colony, East Fort, Eenchakkal, and Puthenpalam brings in a major chunk of the plastic and poultry waste from the city to the waterbody. The waste that is let out from the Milma’s Ambalathara plant that reaches the Kariyal thodu is an ideal medium for growth of water weeds in the canal. The City Corporation and Kerala Water Authoirty have not intervened to check the dumping of waste.

A new sewerage-pumping station is coming up at Eenchakkal, 50 m away from the Kariyal thodu. Intervention by the KWA and getting the waste treated there by a diversion of the canal can prevent the growth of the water weeds, it has been pointed out.

A 53.5-crore project for enhancing surveillance with CCTV cameras and construction of five jetties among other works is awiting the approval of the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) for funding.

New jetties are to come up at Akkulam, Chakka, Valakkadavu, Thiruvallam, and Kovalam.

“Over ₹ 1.3 crore has been spent for Phase I and II cleaning. Stern action against those dumping the waste, ban on single use plastic, public awareness and intervention of the elected representatives can ensure a clean and navigable water body and wastage of the public money”, says an official involved in the rejuvenation project.

The rejuvenation is part of making the 633-km West Coast Canal (WCC), the main arterial waterway in the State, navigable.

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