THRISSUR: Nila Vichara Vedi will take out a journey through the roads contouring both the banks of Bharathapuzha, in an effort to revive the lost cultural tradition of close acquaintance the dwellers on the banks of Nila had with the river. The enviro-cultural organisation will take out the three-day journey, covering 300 km, on October 10.
Organisers of the event said that the environmental deterioration caused by large scale illegal sand mining on the 210 km stretch of the river could not be dealt with only by a ban on mining during certain months of the year.
“It is a common practice of some people living on the banks of the river to collect sand, in small sacks, for sale. Other than illegal miners, who use trucks to smuggle sand, women and children collect sand in sacks and keep it in their houses for sale,” Vipin K, a functionary of the Vedi and organising secretary of the event, said.
A team of 50 persons including scientists, teachers, environmentalists, artists, students and public workers would be taking part in the journey, which would be undertaken as a study tour.
Before the sand mining started in large measures in early 90s and illegal mining became rampant by the year 2000, the local folk were associated with the river through certain rituals and social events.
But, as the water in the river shrunk alarmingly due to illegal mining, such rituals and events were done away with and the people living on either side of the river started seeing it as a means to financial benefit, regardless of the fact that the underground water levels on the banks is fast depleting, Vedi functionaries said.
The journey that begins from Parali, near Palakkad town, will cover 18 spots of cultural importance across three districts, on both the sides of the river, including the memorials of poets Vallathol, Kunchan Nambiar and Ezhuthachan.
“Our convoy of vehicles will take a u-turn through Chamravattam Bridge near Ponnani in Malappuram were the river merges in the sea and will reach the other side of the river and the journey will end at Killikurishimangalam near to the spot where it began on the other side of the river,” the organisers said.