Local bodies in the district have been asked to set up a system with people’s participation for the upkeep of waterbodies cleaned and restored under Operation Vahini.
The project was launched to clear all tributaries of the Periyar in 2021. Since then, the Minor Irrigation department has meticulously cleaned up and restored the carrying capacity of big and small canals.
“At least in some places, the waterbodies restored were found to have stagnated owing to dumping of waste and overgrown water hyacinth. Local residents will have to take ownership of the waterbodies in their neighbourhood rather than expect government outlay for restoration and cleaning frequently, which is in fact a drain on tax payers. Local bodies have been advised to form squads with people’s participation and even organise events like walkathons alongside such waterbodies,” said Ramya Thomas, president, Alangad block panchayat.
During the pre-monsoon works under Operation Vahini this year at a cost of around ₹4 crore, the focus was on cleaning up backwater mouths for ensuring smooth outflow of water through canals to the backwaters.
“We have removed blocks and smoothened the flow of water through numerous small canals in the entire Vypeen area. Its impact was reflected in the fact that none had to leave their homes owing to flooding this year. The greater effect was that while many other rivers had been in spate leading to flooding, no such issue was reported in the Periyar,” said Bajichandran R., Superintending Engineer, Minor irrigation, Central Circle, who had helmed Operation Vahini as Superintending Engineer till recently.
He cited North Paravur, one of the worst affected in the 2018 deluge, as one of the biggest beneficiaries of Operation Vahini. Out of the 36 canals encroached upon there, 24 were restored under the programme in 2021. “Since then, there had hardly been any flooding in North Paravur. Earth has its own system for outflow of water. There is no point in crying hoarse over flooding after disrupting that system,” said Mr. Bajichandran.
The Minor Irrigation department has evolved a system whereby assistant engineers are assigned a few local bodies, and they will have to keep a watch over any disruption in waterbodies within their limits with assistant executive engineers and executive engineers to monitor their work.
“The need of the hour is a proper system at the local body level to root out water hyacinth at regular intervals before they proliferate. The Industries Minister has taken an active interest in exploring the scope of sourcing weed remover machine used in other parts of the country,” he said.
