THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: At a time when the Kerala government has ambitious plans lined up for the Kovalam-Kasargod inland waterway link, a Travancore-era canal system planned and partially executed further south sadly remains forgotten.The Anantha-Victoria-Marthandam Canal aka AVM Canal was conceived as a 'water link' between Thiruvananthapuram and Kanyakumari in the late 1800s. Parts of it were completed, but the project was by and large abandoned, and with the advent of faster road transport, consigned to oblivion. In recent years, there has been a growing demand in Tamil Nadu's Kanyakumari district for reviving the local reaches of this old canal network, but it has failed to evoke any serious nostalgia across the border in Kerala.Begun during the reign of Uthram Thirunal Marthanda Varma, the AVM canal was meant to link Kovalam with Nagercoil in phase one. ''In phase two, the canal was to be extended to Kanyakumari. In fact, work was started in different places, but the canal was never completed,'' says historian M G Sasibhooshan.
Formidable water route
Linked with the Travancore-Shoranur Canal which now forms the spine of the modern waterway project in Kerala, the AVM canal network would have formed a formidable water route linking the northern parts of Kerala to Kanyakumari. Named after Lord Ananthapadmanabha - the tutelary deity - Queen Victoria and Marthanda Varma, the AVM Canal was literally a 'golden' project, its inauguration having been performed with a golden spade. But the spade also was lost somehow,'' says Sasibhooshan. In reality, a network of canals that knit together rivers and large water bodies in the south, the AVM canal boosted trade between the different strongholds of the Travancore kingdom which now lies divided between Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The reach between Colachel and Poovar was reportedly completed by 1867.
A shorter reach linking Thiruvananthapuram and Thiruvallam was finished a few years later.In recent years, Kanyakumari district is witnessing some interest in the revival of the Tamil Nadu reaches of this canal; some 27 kms of it. Former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was in favour of the revival. A project also was drawn up. But now, it is again gathering dust, says Colachel MLA J G Prince, raised the matter in the Tamil Nadu Assembly three years ago.The Kerala government's plan is to develop the Kovalam-Kasargod waterway by 2020, and at the moment, little thought is spared to this old network further south.
There is no plan at present to develop canal networks further south of Kovalam, says V J Kurien, managing director of the Kerala Waterways Infrastructure Ltd, a JV of the state government and the Cochin International Airport Ltd for waterway development.Sasibhooshan is sceptical about the project's revival in our times but says waterways do have their uses in reducing pollution and transport costs. ''Patches of the AVM canal are still visible from Vizhinjam as marshy regions. But large sections of it have been lost to encroachment. If revived somehow, the canal would be of use to Vizhinjam and Kovalam,'' he says.