The Hindu Business Line : Pampa Action Plan going off course

THE first phase of the Pampa Action Plan (PAP) under the National River Conservation Programme (NRCP) seems to have been sidelined following the controversy over the alleged corruption in recruitments and the engagement of Delhi-based Ecosmart in the development of Sabarimala.It was to be implemented by the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB).

The board was to carry out 11 projects at an investment of Rs 18.46 crore at Sabarimala and Pampa before the commencement of the current pilgrimage season.

The board, having landed up in a controversy over the appointments to its establishment, which controls and administers 1,200 temples in southern Kerala, has not taken up any of these projects. On the other hand, the appointment of Ecosmart by the Government to prepare a master plan for the development of Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple (also under TDB) has invited a lot of criticism from various quarters, resulting in the Board suspending the company from any involvement.

In this cold-war scenario between the Government and the Board, the Rs 18.45-crore projects for the development of Sabarimala, with the Central assistance of 70 per cent of the total cost, failed to take off, Mr N. K. Sukumaran Nair, General Secretary, Pampa Parirakshana Samithi, an NGO, told Business Line.

The major components of the first phase are the setting up of sewage treatment plants at Sabarimala, for which, no work has started so far (though tenders were called in 2004.)

The Ministry had approved the PAP and included Pampa in the NRCP in 2001 and later accepted the Rs 319.70-crore project submitted by the State Government on December 19, 2002 to be completed in three phases.

Subsequently, for the implementation of the first component of the project involving a total investment of Rs 18.45 crore, the NRC Directorate had sanctioned its 70 per cent share of the Rs 12.91-crore cost in June 2003.

Besides, a sum of Rs 75 lakh was given as advance. "But, the State Government had not so far done anything towards implementing the PAP," Mr Nair said.

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