THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kayamkulam
MLA Prathibha
Hari said in the assembly on Monday that the
Kuttanad wetland ecosystem development package has lost its aim and majority of the projects under it had deviated from what was originally designed by renowned geneticist Dr M S
Swaminathan.
She demanded the government to present a white paper on the implementation of the package, fund utilised so far and how the officials derailed the entire scheme failing to benefit the farmers of the region.
Agriculture minister V S
Sunil Kumar, who replied to the calling attention motion by the MLA, too echoed similar concern and admitted that the package failed to achieve desired results due to the unscientific way of its implementation.
“The failure of the package is due to unscientific planning and implementation. Even though the prime objective of the package was to protect the wetland ecosystem, the entire project was derailed. The agriculture department had no role in the implementation as land revenue and irrigation departments were involved,” the minister said.
Hari demanded that an assembly committee should visit the region and ascertain the lapses occurred while implementing the package. She also stressed the need for a second package for saving the farmers of the rice bowl of Kerala. To this, the minister said soon a technical committee would visit the region and study the issue. “This committee will also explore the possibility of the second package,” he said.
In July 2008, the Centre had given 'in-principle' approval for providing financial support for implementing various programmes suggested by M S
Swaminathan Research Foundation for development of Kuttanad wetland ecosystem.
