Ramanthali residents air fresh concerns

The issue of contamination of groundwater wells in houses at Ramanthali here allegedly due to seepage from the sewage treatment plant (STP) on the Indian Naval Academy (INA) campus at Ezhimala here has surfaced again with the local action committee blaming INA authorities for not expediting the works promised by them as part of an agreement to end the agitation by the residents last year.

The Janakeeya Aarogya Samrakshana Samithi (JASS), the local action committee that spearheaded the three-month agitation in front of the entrance to the INA at Ramanthali, said fresh concerns about contamination of groundwater wells were raised by local residents when water level in some of the wells went up over the past week.

The seepage from the nearby STP of the INA was suspected to be the cause of the sudden rise in water level.

“The proposal for decentralising the STP to treat sewage at the sources of their origin was one of the proposals accepted by the INA authorities as part of the agreement to end our agitation,” said JASS convener K.V. Sunil Kumar.

The proposal was yet to be implemented. As per the agreement, the INA authorities would comply with the agreement proposals in eight months, he said. The agitation last year followed the inexplicable rise in well water level in the area and subsequent finding of the presence of E.coli bacteria in water samples, he said.

When contacted, INA spokesperson said the INA was already implementing on a timeline the proposals of short-term works suggested by the expert that examined the STP.

“We have already invited open tenders for setting up an online monitoring centre for the existing STP, which is part of the medium-term works to be completed,” she said.

The decentralisation of the existing STP being a long-term project to be implemented in Phase III, the INA had already submitted the proposal to the Ministry of Defence, she said.

She also added that the INA had already invited local panchayat and JASS functionaries to visit the works.

District Congress Committee president Satheeshan Pacheni said the Congress would launch an agitation if the INA authorities did not take immediate steps to find a solution to the issue.

In a release, he said he had visited the houses at Thekkumpad at Ramanthali and found that the water level had risen up to three to five ft when the water level in other parts of the panchayat was coming down.