The Hindu Business Line : NGO seeks probe into delay in Pampa Action Plan

Kochi, Feb. 24 The inordinate delay in implementing the Pampa Action Plan (PAP) under the Centre’s national river conservation programme, even five years after its approval, appears to have compelled the NGO Pampa Parirakshana Samithi (PPS) to urge the State Government to conduct a detailed investigation urgently on the circumstances that have delayed the execution of the project.

The upsurge in the number of pilgrims visiting Sabarimala year after year has continued to accelerate pollution of the Pampa river and as a consequence water-borne diseases in the river basin, including Kuttanad region, is on the increase.

Epidemics

The outbreak of viral fever and suspected chikungunya etc last year could be attributed to poor waste management and sewage disposal, Mr N.K. Sukumaran Nair, General Secretary of PPS told Business Line.

Pollution in the river due to faecal contamination is directly responsible for the increase in water-borne diseases in Alappuzha district. The government Medical College in Alappuzha receives 200 cases every year having ‘Lept Spirosis’ and the mortality rate in this case is 10 per cent, and at least 20 persons die of this disease, according to Dr B. Padmakumar, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the medical college.

Besides, compared to other districts, the number of cases of typhoid, viral hepatitis and gastroenteritis reported here is on the higher side, he said.

The cause could be traced to pollution of the river, he said. The Pampa river water runs into Vembanadu Lake in Kuttanadu, on which 90 per cent of the inhabitants depend for their daily needs, including drinking, as potable water is scarce in several areas.

After-effects

In 2006, several parts of this district witnessed an outbreak of chikungunya and its after-effects are still felt by the infected people. Late last year, the outbreak of a viral fever epidemic with symptoms similar to those of chikungunya was reported in Perinadu and Chittar panchayats of Pathanamthitta district on the upstream of the Pampa.

Pollution in the river indirectly contributes to the epidemic because of the improper and negligent handling of the garbage and disposal of sewage that contains faeces, after the November-January pilgrimage season and during and after the visit by thousands of devotees for monthly ‘darshan’ at Sabarimala, State Pollution Control Board sources said.

The existing sewage treatment plant at Cheriayanavattom is quite inadequate. Lack of coordination among the concerned government departments and avoidable internecine fight with in the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) has led to non-implementation of even those urgently required projects under the Pampa Action Plan (PAP) such as sewage treatment plant at Sabarimala and augmentation of existing plant at Cherayanavattom in Pampa. Similarly, construction of 240 latrines for the pilgrims did not take off. Inadequate facilities and poor handling at the base camp at Nilakkal resulted in alleged overflowing of so called sewage treatment tank there into the forest.

Funds sanction

These projects have been included in the first phase of the PAP with an estimated cost of around Rs 18.45 crore and the Central Government had sanctioned its share of 70 per cent of the total cost in May 2003, Mr Nair said.

The National River Conservation Directorate under the Ministry of Environment and Forests had approved a Rs 319.70 crore project about six years ago for controlling pollution of the river from Pampa to Thakazhy in Kuttanad, but the impervious attitude of the authorities had resulted in its non-implementation so far, he alleged.

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