Revenue, Survey and Local Self-Government departments have initiated steps to identity and remove encroachments along the Vembanad Lake, according to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
A committee was constituted on the recommendation of the Assembly Committee on Environment to examine encroachments and suggest remedial measures, he said in response to a submission by K. Babu, Thripunitura MLA, on Tuesday.
The committee, which includes the District Collector as chairman and officials of various departments, has started work on identifying encroachments. The team will fix the boundary of the Vembanad Lake, which is a Ramsar wetland, as part of efforts to restore the ecosystem, he said.
The Chief Minister said the Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Change had categorised the Vembanad Lake as one of the critically vulnerable coastal areas in the country. It had also suggested the involvement of fisherfolk for ensuring sustainable use of resources and protection of the coastal region. The government will take necessary steps, including implementing the proposal to set up a Vembanad Lake authority, he said.
A study by the M.S. Swaminathan Foundation has found that the water holding capacity of the lake had declined considerably owing to the increased presence of silt and waste. A project has been formulated to construct an outer boundary around the ‘R-block’ paddy field using the removed mud and silt. It is likely to be implemented jointly by the government and the Padasekhara samiti in the public-private partnership mode.
