THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Water Resources Minister Mathew T Thomas has said all dam reservoirs in the state will be desilted. “A meeting convened by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had taken some decisions in this regard. Now a draft SOP has been prepared which has listed guidelines for segregation and auction of the silt and sand,” he told the Assembly on Thursday.
Thomas said the desilting was challenging since there were practical difficulties to undertake it during monsoon when the reservoirs are full and during summer when the reservoirs would be catering to potable water projects. Thomas said the Water Authority was replacing old pipelines in a phased manner. Desilting and cleaning work of canals have hit a road block after the revised MGNREGS guidelines prevent works other than those related to asset generation.
Jalandihi has been asked to focus on the revival of small-scale potable water projects stalled owing to the non-cooperation of local bodies. During the tenure of this government, 3,031 public wells were dug. 15,022 wells were recharged. 3,755 new ponds were dug and 11,247 were recharged. In addition to these, 1,811 canals were cleaned under the Haritha Keralam Mission project.