The Aadi Pampa-Varattar river rejuvenation project has been making no progress.
The second phase of the rejuvenation project was launched by Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine in February 2022. The project is aimed at restoring the natural flow and health of the 4.2-km Aadi Pampa and 9.4-km Varattar, both tributaries of the Pampa river, to ensure effective flood management. More than a year after the launch of the ₹43.93-crore project, the rivers remain silted and weed-infested as less than 2 km has been rejuvenated so far.
Sluggish pace
Sources say that the de-siltation work has been completed only on a small stretch of the Aadi Pampa river. Though work was launched in the Varattar, it immediately came to a halt.
Soon after the launch of the project last year, local residents alleged that the government had colluded with sand mafia to loot sand in the name of the Aadi Pampa-Varattar rejuvenation project. The Chengannur municipality and others moved the Kerala High Court against ‘sand mining’.
People’s ire
“The first phase of the project was launched with the public participation. Later, the government took over the project and began the next phase. The government was supposed to desilt the rivers, but it only removed sand inviting the ire of the people. The project is implemented without transparency and is not effective,” says Hareesh Kumar, who was the coordinator of the now defunct Varattar Janakeeya Samithi.
Though the protests subsided and work was restarted earlier this year, it has not made much progress. Officials of the Irrigation department say that the project is in a static state with no work carried out in the last couple of months “due to rain”.
Apart from flood management, the rejuvenation of the rivers is expected to ensure the availability of water around the year, which will be a major boost to farming in the Chengannur, Aranmula, and Thiruvalla Assembly constituencies in Alappuzha and Pathanamthitta districts.
