Thrissur: The Bharathapuzha Summit held at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi has demanded the Union government to constitute a river basin authority for the protection of the dying river and also for setting up a commission similar to that of Madhav Gadgil to breath new lease of life into the interstate river that originates from Anaimalai in Tamil Nadu and flows through Malappuram, Palakkad and Thrissur districts in Kerala.
The summit organised by social-environmental oranganisation Nila Vichara Vedi with the aim to spread awareness about the need for reviving the river at the national level was held on Saturday at the JNU Convention Centre, Vedi Functionary Vipin Koodiyedath said.
JNU vice-chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar who inaugurated the summit urged for the protection of the river and assured the support of Centre for the Study of Regional Development at JNU for the protection of the river.
The summit witnessed the participation of nearly 150 students from JNU along with those from Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean studies (KUFOS), Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), Kannur and Calicut University, Jammu and Kashmir Study Centre among other institutions across the country.
Dr P Pramod of Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History in Coimbatore, K V Ramanujan Thampi of Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP), Dr Jayasree and Dr Pankaj Chandran of World Wildlife Forum (WWF) and Sanjeev Sharma of JNU among others spoke at the event.
