Yet another Sabarimala pilgrimage season is just at the doorsteps and still the facilities for the millions of devotees trekking to the hill shrine continues to remain quite inadequate. Despite a number of pronouncements and preparation of master plans by several agencies for about over three decades and the latest, a mega comprehensive project by a big private agency, nothing significant has happened so far.

The condition of roads leading to Pampa, the base of the hill, have not been completed yet. There has not been any development proportionate to the ever-increasing number of pilgrims and number of vehicles. Adequate number of toilets with proper and scientific drainage and sewage system, dwelling facilities, properly developed transit camps at appropriate points to regulate the flow of devotees to Pampa and from there to Sabarimala Sannidhanam still do not exist, alleged religious organisations and other NGOs.

What is of paramount importance and being pointed out again and again is the pollution of river Pampa during the pilgrimage season, as it would create problems not only for thousands of pilgrims, but also to lakhs of inhabitants downstream. “As far as polluting the holy river Pampa is concerned, the conditions remain unchanged from what it was last year, threatening around 40 lakhs of inhabitants in the river basin right from Pampa downstream to Kuttanad,” Mr N. K. Sukumaran Nair, General Secretary, Pampa Parirakshana Samithi, told Business Line .

“Even though not well documented, from Mid-November to Mid-February several water-borne diseases and multi-drug resistant diseases are on the rise in Kuttanad region, which could be attributed to the increased contamination and pollution of the river during the Pilgrimage season which begins on November 17 and lasts till January 19,” said Dr B. Padmakumar, Associate Professor, General Medicine, Alappuzha Government Medical College. The only solution to this serious problem is “setting up of required infrastructures such as high capacity sewage treatment plants at Pampa and Sannidhanam and proper drainage system, keeping in mind the ever increasing number of pilgrims every year, so as to arrest the discharge of faecal and other hazardous wastes into the river,” he pointed out.

“Water-borne diseases appear to be have become endemic in Kuttanad, surrounded by water and lies below the MSL due to contamination of water, including drinking water, ” Dr Padmakumar, said. A major water-borne disease which has become common throughout the year is Hepatitis caused by drinking water contaminated by human excreta.

According to the WHO criterion, the drinking water should not contain coliform bacteria at all, he pointed out.

In view of the major sewage load coming to the Kuttanadu waters from Sabarimala through the Pampa river, the Dr M. S. Swaminathan Commission, in its Kuttanadu Package, recommended that expedited action should be initiated to prevent pollution from the rivers drained to Kuttanadu. “The PAP should be implemented in a time frame of two-three years and river sanitised from human and solid waste and for which Rs 15.75 lakh was also released to the State by the MoEF,” he said.

Realising the seriousness of the issue, such projects aimed at keeping the river clean, were included in the first phase of Pampa Action Plan (PAP) under the National River Conservation Programme approved by the Central Government nine years ago.

In fact, the decision to include the river in the NRCP scheme was taken following findings of high presence of coliform bacteria in the river water after quality monitoring was done by the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) according to the directions of the Kerala High Court. The court has brought to light the urgent need for an action plan for cleaning up of the river, Mr Nair said.

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