To get an idea of the factors killing the Parvathy Puthanar, you need not be living anywhere near it. Just take a walk along the side roads from the KINFRA Park, and the stretch leads to the KINFRA Working Women’s Hostel at Menamkulam which, according to the local people, has become a headache for them.
The canal had not been this dirty and stinking in the past. Years ago, it was used as a potable water source by the residents here. ‘’Nothing disturbed us then and we lived here peacefully,” recalls Sadasivan, a resident who turned 90 recently. “Fishermen had plenty of catch, and people flocked from other villages to cast their nets,’’ he said.
“In addition to other wastes disposed here, a pipe from the hostel now discharges sewage into the canal,” he alleged. Many other residents of Menamkulam support this allegation.
The hostel was started eight years ago and it was inaugurated by Oommen Chandy, during his earlier term as Chief Minister. It was built with financial assistance from the Union Human Resource Ministry to accommodate more than 300 employees of KINFRA. Now the hostel accommodates even students and others too.
In fact, the hostel alone is not responsible for the canal turning polluted. Some of the residents too are to be blamed for the pathetic condition of the water body. Though the Water Act of 1974 states that sewage water should be released into water bodies only after treatment, many of the local residents are still not following the rule.
The primary indication of trouble facing Parvathy Puthanar was the appearance of water hyacinth and along with the waste thrown into it, fishing activities in the canal almost came to a standstill.
There are thousands of families living along the banks of the Puthanar in this area. And in most of the houses the well water is unusable. “The problem has become severe in the absence of a proper sewage system,” the local people alleged. Many of them had even resorted to agitations over the issue earlier.
However, the officials at KINFRA Apparel Park refuted the allegations raised by the people. “The pipe that is let into the canal releases only the rainwater. No solid waste is discharged into the canal,’’ said Unnikrishnan, manager of KINFRA apparel park. However, he admitted that earlier waste was indeed disposed into the Puthanar. ‘’But, following the requests from the local people, we inquired into the issue and stopped it,” he said.
