The Hindu Business Line : Pampa Action Plan hits roadblock

The clubbing of Sabarimala development projects with those under the Pampa Action Plan (PAP) is understood to have blocked the latter following a dispute between the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) and the forest department.

Since the first phase of the PAP projects to be implemented in Sabarimala and Pampa have been approved by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) already, there would not be any objection from the forest department to its implementation.

Besides, there is no dispute over the additional forestland of 2.44 hectare required for these projects, according to Mr N.K. Sukumaran Nair, General Secretary, Pampa Parirakshana Samithi.

Most of the projects under the first phase of PAP have to be implemented by the TDB, which clubbed the Sabarimala projects with it and that has blocked its implementation now, he alleged.

The Samithi, in a bid to get the hurdles removed, had recently apprised the Kerala Minister for Water Resources, Mr N.K. Premachandran, of the importance of implementing the PAP and the Minister had agreed to look into the issues involved, Mr Nair told Business Line.

`Misconception'

He said that there was a misconception that the PAP was for the development of Sabarimala. The Centre under the National River Conservation Programme (NRCP) had approved cleansing of the Pampa river, which gets heavily polluted during the Sabarimala pilgrimage season every year, so as to provide safe water to around 40 lakh people living in the river basin, he said.

In fact, the importance of this phenomenon has been overlooked by the wrong belief, he said. The MoEF has approved the first phase of the PAP considering the seriousness of the problem and the need to keep the Pampa river clean, as during the pilgrimage season coliform bacteria in the river was found to be very high — three lakh per 100 ml, he said.

"This indicates the high level of sewage pollution in the river due to the absence of sufficient sanitary facilities at Sabarimala, Pampa and towns en route for pilgrims and the public in the nearby inhabitations," Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB) pointed out.

The water quality monitoring of the Pampa river was done by the PCB on the directions of the Kerala High Court.

implementation problems

The MoEF 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 cost (Rs 12.91 crore) in June 2003.

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

The previous State Cabinet had taken a decision to set up a Pampa River Basin Development Authority in December 2004. Besides, a Steering Committee was also constituted.

The Centre had also issued guidelines for the implementation of the PAP and as per the approval procedure set by the MoEF for the Ganga Action Plan, approval of river action plans is accorded by the government on the basis of pre-feasibility report estimates prepared by the state governments.

After the scheme is approved, detailed project reports (DPR) with firmed-up cost estimates for various sub-components are prepared by the state governments. These DPRs are appraised and approved by the Ministry following which administrative approval and expenditure sanctions are issued.

The progress is monitored by both the State or implementing agencies and the Ministry.

But none of these procedures has so far been followed by the authorities here, Mr Nair alleged.

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