THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Assembly Committee on Environment that visited Vellayani Lake and Mookunnimala on Thursday detected largescale violation and destruction of environment.
Highlighting the gross violations of environment related rules at Vellayani lake and Mookunnimala, Committee chairman Mullakkara Ratnakaran said they have come across encroachments at Vellayani lake. Sludge was found to deposited in the lake and the depth of the water body was found to be reduced. Apart from this, many of the springs in the lake have been found to be plugged, he said.
On Mookunnimala, he said, “It was found that the pattayam was initially given for agriculture purposes. But now it is being used for quarrying. We have to see how this gross violation happened. The officials have not looked into the violation for quite sometime and we have to look into this aspect also.”
Ahead of the spot visit, the Assembly committee held a hearing with the District Collector and other officials. Though a hearing was held, Ratnakaran said the officials were not able to produce scientific and accurate evidence or documents.
“More details regarding the number of pattayams issued at Mookunnimala need to be looked into. Apart from this, it is also to be seen how many quarries are functioning and if they are operating in violation of any regulations. All these details are yet to be obtained,” he said.
Noting that they need proper scientific data to prepare a comprehensive report, he said a hearing will be held next month. “If any authority or research institute has done any study on Vellayani Lake or Mookunnimala, we will ask them to be present at the hearing. Apart from this, the officials of the concerned departments will also be called for the hearing,” he said.
The team visited the lake in the morning and then went to Mookunnimala in the afternoon. Committee members Anil Akkara, P V Anvar, K V Vijayadas and M Vincent, District Collector K Vasuki and officials from the revenue, pollution control board, irrigation and other departments were part of the team that made the spot inspection.
During the visit, the Assembly committee also interacted with Vellayanikayal Samrakshana Samithi and the Mookunnimala Samrakshana Samithi, who were the main petitioners. Both the samithis handed over memorandums to the committee. The committee had decided to visit the two sensitive regions after it received a lot of complaints with regard to encroachment and illegal activities.