Much to the relief of local residents, the authorities have now started removing heaps of waste piled up on the banks of the Valapattanam river.
The district administration and the police have initiated steps for the removal of the waste that included scraps of wooden and fibre crafts used for illegal sand-mining, which were seized by the police over the past three years. The Valapattanam boat jetty area downstream, where the captured crafts were abandoned, trapped other waste material including animal carcass from upstream areas.
“Six loads of waste from the river bank were taken to the waste yard of the police at Chakkarakkal over the last three days,” said Valapattanam panchayat president T.P. Muhammad Ashraf. The work would resume after facilities are arranged at the yard for accommodating more scrap material, he added. The initiative to clean the river bank has come as a relief to the local people, who had been facing several health risks, he said.
The river downstream already shows signs of contamination from organic and chemical wastes as the area has large concentration of wood-based industries. The Kerala State Council of Science, Technology and Environment’s environmental monitory programme has found that the river basin is the most polluted in Kandakkai, Parassinikkadavu, Valapattanam, Azheekkal and Kattampalli areas. A higher index of total coliform and faecal coliform bacteria in surface water and groundwater samples in the river basin was also found.
The decision of the authorities to remove the waste from the river bank followed protests by local residents. P.K. Sreemathi, MP, and local MLA K.M. Shaji took up the issue following the protests.
