Even as Kuttanad gets inundated regularly, the much-hyped ‘Room for the River’ project mooted to tackle floods in the region remains a non-starter.
‘Room for the River’, based on the Dutch model of flood control, was announced by the State government in May 2019 after a high-level delegation led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan visited the project site in the Netherlands. The concept aims to create more room for rivers to flow thus enabling better floodwater management. The government considers it best suited for the flood-prone areas in the State especially in the Kuttanad region spread across Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, and Kottayam districts.
The implementation of the project in Kuttanad, according to Irrigation department officials, has been delayed due to a lag on the part of the Indian Institute of Technology (Madras) [IIT-Madras], which has been entrusted with conducting a hydrodynamic study, in submitting the final report. Though the IIT-Madras had submitted a report last year, officials said that it was “debatable” and they had been asked to make changes and submit a revised report.
