Palakkad reeling under drought

Palakkad is once again reeling under severe drought. With dams and waterbodies, including rivers such as the Baharathapuzha and Bhavani, drying up people are facing severe shortage of drinking water.The average temperature has crossed 40 degrees Celsius. The failure of the monsoons-there has been no rain in the district in the last four months-has compounded the problem.At a District Development Council (DDC) meeting on Mar1h 2, people's representatives criticised the government and the administration for failing to take steps to deal with the situation.M.Chandran, MLA, in a resolution urged the government and the sanction Rs.10 crore to take up urgent drought drought-relief measures.N.N.Krishnadas, MP, asked officials to assess the damage to agriculture and monitor the drinking water situation. He demanded that those taluks which faced shortage of water and loss of crops be declared drought-affected. The Principal Agriculture Officer said that crops in 859 hectares were destroyed and another 4,822 hectares were facing drought-like situation. The council urged the departments concerned to provide drinking water in tanks in drought-affected areas.V.Chenthamarakrishnan, MLA, demanded that the farmers whose crops were lost be given a compensation of Rs.15,000 a hectare. He said that large areas of crops in the ayacut areas of the Meenkara and Chulliyar dams were affected. The high ranges of the Mangalam dam were facing a heat wave due to the drying up of the dam. The Attappady tribal area is badly hit. The Bhavan, which flows through the area to Tamil Nadu, has almost dried up. Basheer Madala, 45 of Agali said he was seeing the river in such a state for the first time. "The tribes if Attappady mainly live on the banks of the river. This is their main drinking and irrigation water source", said. "Despite the calamity, the government has not allotted any fund for drought relief though some other districts have been allotted funds", K.Achuthan, MLA, said. He demanded long-term measures to tackle the situation. Faced with a severe drought in 2003-04, the then district administration headed by Sanjeev Kaushik prepared a master plan with the help of the Centre for Water Resources Development and Management, Kerala   Water Authority and the departments of Water Resources, Agriculture and Groundwater. It suggested various measures to counter drought situations in the district. Theses included creation of more surface storages, construction of diversion structures, water quality management, creation of databank on hydro-climatic parameters, linking of reservoirs with water supply schemes, inter-basin transfer, protection of wetlands and paddy fields etc. the necessity of a river basin authority for the Bharathapuzha basin was also highlighted. But the master plan is yet to get a look-in while the district is under the grip of a severe drought yet again.

 

The Hindu, 8th March 2009