The Meenachil River Valley Project, which has remained a non-starter for nearly 4 many years after it was first proposed, is in for a revival with the Kerala authorities appointing a six-member committee to check the undertaking.
According to Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine, the undertaking envisages diverting the excess water after energy technology on the Moolamattom energy station to the Meenachil to take care of a gradual circulation of water around the 12 months.
“If materialised, the undertaking shall be of nice help to the farming neighborhood depending on water from the river and the assorted irrigation and ingesting water tasks that draw water from it. This is step one by the second Pinarayi Vijayan authorities in reference to the implementation of the undertaking,’‘ he stated in an announcement on Tuesday.
The scheme will guarantee ingesting water to 12 panchayats and 4 municipalities in Kottayam, moreover guaranteeing enough circulation of water within the waterbody through the summer time, he added.
While the preliminary proposal was to assemble a dam 75 m excessive alongside the Meenachil basin at Adukkam with a reservoir space of 228 hectares, the undertaking hit its first blockade when the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) started diverting water from the Meenachil basin by setting up a diversion weir at Vazhikkadavu with a tunnel to the Idukki dam.
An skilled committee appointed by the State authorities, nevertheless, discovered the dam development at Adukkam unfeasible. It as a substitute really useful another plan to reroute water from the upstream of the Malankara dam and to assemble a collection of mini dams within the Meenachil and its three main tributaries.
Accordingly, an in depth undertaking report was ready for the development of a collection of mini dam-cum-regulators, a dam at Pazhukkakanam and development of a modified tunnel in three completely different phases. Based on web site investigations, the dam web site at Pazhukkakanam and 7 mini dams had been finalised.
The undertaking, nevertheless, has since remained in limbo following robust protests from varied quarters, together with native residents and non-allocation of funds within the State Budget.
Source: www.thehindu.com
