With the southwest monsoon fast approaching, villagers have started clearing flood escape routes in the low-lying flood-prone areas of Central Travancore. The Madhurampuzha stream, leading to the Manimala river at Kuttoor village in Thiruvalla, is being rejuvenated under the aegis of a committee comprising local people.
The 2.5-km-long stream, meandering through the fertile delta of the Manimala river, was a major flood escape route which helped avert many floods in the region till late 1990s.
However, excessive human intervention, including encroachments, has left this stream choked on many stretches, because of which around 800 families in the locality were inundated in floods over the past 25 years.
Another concern is the damaged shutters of an irrigation canal that links the Manimala river with the Madhurampuzha delta.
Villagers’ plea over the past five years to get the shutters repaired has yielded no results yet.
Delay likely
Mathew T. Thomas, MLA, told The Hindu that he had sanctioned ₹17 lakh from his local area development fund for replacing the damaged shutters.
But, new shutters are unlikely to be installed before monsoon. In all likelihood, the villagers will have to face the fury of nature this time too.
The grama panchayat has passed a resolution to construct a temporary bund on the canal mouth, once the Irrigation Department gives consent, to mitigate flood impact this year. Popular committee leaders Prasannakumar, Abraham Kunnukandathil, and Jayakrishnan Nair have called upon the revenue authorities to clear all encroachments on the 2.5-km-long Madhurampuzha canal without delay.
They said a huge quantity of silt and waste accumulated along 700-metre stretch of the stream towards the east of MC Road was being removed.