The Hindu Business Line : Kerala to set up River Basin Organisation

THE Minister for Water Resources, Mr T.M. Jacob, has said that the State Government proposes to set up a River Basin Organisation with the aim of saving the State's rivers from degradation and death.

Replying to questions in the State Assembly, the Minister said the organisation would deal with the issues of river protection and management, watershed management and geomorphology.

A Rs 1000-crore scheme had been drawn up for cleaning up the highly polluted Periyar river that flows along the periphery of a number of units in the Aluva industrial belt, Mr Jacob informed the House.

The State Government proposed to approach the Centre for assistance in implementing the scheme since it could not hope to take up the project on its own.

The coliform bacteria content had been found to be higher than permissible limits in all major rivers in the State. In this context, the Minister said no major assistance was forthcoming from the Centre with regard to the implementation of the action plan to clean up the Pampa. The programme was to be implemented in three phases.

The Centre had agreed to include the Kollam-Kottapuram stretch under the National Waterways Project, Mr Jacob said in reply to a related question.

Liquor consumption: Consumption of liquor has maintained a rising trend in the State as in the past, according to the Excise Minister, Prof K.V. Thomas.

Releasing statistics in a written reply, the Minister said 105.48 lakh cases of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) were sold in the State during 2003-04 compared to the 92.02 lakh cases in the preceding year. In a similar fashion, beer sales had risen to 39.45 lakh cases from 28.66 lakh cases and toddy, 63.67 crore litres from 26.12 crore litres. Raids had led to 6,495 hooch distilling and sales cases being registered during 2003-04, the Minister added.

Karappara-Kuriarkutty hydel project: The Electricity Minister, Mr Kadavoor Sivadasan, told the Assembly that the State Government was awaiting Centre's approval for the Karappara-Kuriarkutty hydel project.

Estimated to cost Rs 550 crore, the 84-MW project would irrigate 18,500 hectares of land in Chittur taluk of Palakkad district. Approval of the Union Ministry for Forests and Environment was still pending in respect of the project, which would be jointly implemented by the Irrigation and Electricity departments.

Model fishing harbour: The Munambam fishing harbour in Ernakulam district would be converted into a model fishing harbour with assistance from the Centre, according to Prof K.V. Thomas, who also holds the charge of Fisheries.

The Marine Products Export Development Project (MPEDA) had advanced a sum of Rs 2.6 crore for the project, work on which was in progress.