Kochi: Several panchayats and municipalities in Thrissur and Ernakulam districts which are dependent on water from Chalakudy River are reeling under acute water scarcity due to the increasing level of pollution in the river. The water-rich rural areas have now become parched as the river water is unusable due to pollution. Local residents allege that despite a series of protests, Nitta Gelatin India Limited at Kathikudam, the company which is allegedly polluting the river, is still discharging effluents into the river.
The rampant dumping of municipal solid waste and toilet waste has also degraded the river. More than 12 lakhs of people in two districts are solely dependent on the river for drinking water and irrigation. There are 600 lift irrigation projects and 30 drinking water projects in the river. Farming in vast areas of agriculture areas has been hit due to unrestrained river pollution.
In the wake of widespread complaints against Nitta Gelatin discharging effluents into the river, the chief minister’s scientific advisor M. Chandra Dathan recently held an evidence collection sitting at Annamanada, near Mala. People’s representatives, political parties’ representatives, officials of Nitta Gelatin and local residents urged the scientific advisor to take immediate measures for pollution control. There was no need for a new study as several studies had already been undertaken, they said.
The possibility of using the waste water from the company for irrigation after treating it should be probed, they demanded. “Puthanvelikara, a village where Chalakdy river and Periyar river meet, never had to face water scarcity in the past. But, many of the families in the panchayat are now solely dependent on tanker water, long before the onset of the monsoon. Chalakudy river is facing a slow death,” said M.P Shajan, former panchayat member.
