THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: On one side, the District Corporation is cleaning the Killi River and on the other side, sewage wastes from the houses at Chadiyara, Poojapura are being flushed out through the irrigation channel that reaches the river, thereby nullifying the efforts of the Corporation. "We are left with no other option to dispose our sewage waste other than the irrigation channel," said a Chadiyara resident.
Over hundreds of houses from Chadiyara alone flush their wastes to the irrigation channel.Even though most of the houses have sewage tanks within them, the sewage wastes reach the irrigation channel when it overflows. "The Corporation Health Department has issued notices to over 35 houses regarding the flushing of sewage to the channel. Notices to over 100 houses are yet to be given," said a Health official.
The sewage pipeline project that ends in Muttathara was initiated over 35 years ago. The same was impeded due to a land dispute. In 2017, the work was restarted with administrative sanction from the government to proceed in connecting the pipeline from Chadiyara till Jagathy. The sewage pipeline at Chadiyara till Jagathy will benefit over one lakh people.
The administrative sanction for three schemes was already passed - it includes the pipelines at Jagathy junction at a cost of Rs 1 crore 90 lakh, Jagathy- Koottamvila at a cost of Rs 1 crore 42 lakh and Jagathy -Chadiyara at a cost of Rs 40 lakh. Other than the pipeline project at Jagathy-Chadiyara, rest of the phases were able to finalise tenders. "Owing to land acquisition issues, the contractors are not ready to take tenders," said Balachandran Nair, Treasurer of Nanma Koottayma.
The pipelines need to cross the property of nine residents. The residents are not willing to allow the land for the same. "We are trying to convince them to allocate the land. The assistant engineer of land acquisition has agreed to fasten the tendering project by getting the advance agreement signed from the nine residents," said S Prasannakumar, general convenor of Nanma Koottayma, . The Nanma Kootayma has decided to meet the Minister for Water Resources to transfer the fund from the Department of water resources to the revenue.
"We do not want to urge the government to take actions before Lok Sabha elections. But we will be meeting the minister soon after the elections," said Prasannakumar.However, until the implementation of the sewage pipelines in the area, the Killi river will continue to get polluted. Therefore, the residents urge the government to take immediate actions.