Despite Heavy Rain In State Many Parts Are Still Dry

14 August 2013
Pathanamthitta

Despite Heavy Rainfall some part of Kerala are still not have water to drink , water as far as the eye can see but not a drop to drink. Scores of poor families in the Upper Kuttanad villages of Peringara, Niranom, Nedumpram and Kadapra in Thiruvalla taluk know the pain.

The unfortunate people, a majority of them farm workers, live atop bunds, earthen protection walls surrounding this granary of the central Travancore region, below the sea level. “We have lost faith in politicians and successive State governments for their hollow election promises to address our drinking water needs,” Kunjamma, a middle-aged farm worker at Chathankary village, says.

“Whether monsoon or summer, the people of Upper Kuttanad are left to bear the bane of drinking water scarcity, despite being surrounded by water round the year. Absence of governmental initiatives, coupled with unscientific infrastructure projects, over the past several years is the reason for the problem,” Sreedharan Nair, a septuagenarian farmer at Nedumpram, says.

The criss-crossing roads and reclamation of paddy fields for construction have blocked several canals and other natural flood-escape routes. The stagnant water in various canals is polluted and not potable. The canals have become dumping grounds for garbage in certain areas, besides being recipients of sewage pipes. Toilets directly empty waste into the canals.

Source– http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/the-pots-are-dry-here-despite-the-rain/article5020094.ece

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