The Kerala Government Contractors’ Association has called upon the government to take necessary steps to sell the sand and other remains of the deluge of August, 2018 removed from the Pampa to government contractors at a reasonable price.
In a statement issued here on Monday, association State secretary Thomaskutty Thevarumuriyil and district president Anil S. Uzhathil said the association was willing to buy the sand-silt mix for use in construction works under way as part of various government projects.
Mr. Thomaskutty said the association was ready to pay ₹70 to ₹100 a cubic feet of sand as it would be of great help in addressing the prevailing scarcity for river sand for construction work.
Revenue source
The stakeholder departments should take a joint decision in this regard as it would also be a key source of revenue generation for the government, he said. The District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), chaired by District Collector P.B. Noohu, started removing the sand deposits from Pampa and surrounding areas on June 4 to avoid chances of floods.
1.23 lakh cubic metres
The Irrigation Department has assessed the quantum of sand accumulated along the 2.23-km river stretch between Valiyanavattom and Pampa-Triveni at 1.23 lakh cubic metres. Earlier, in September, 2018, a team of experts from the National Centre for Earth Science Studies (NCESS) had assessed the sand accumulated in Pampa as construction grade.
The sand scooped out from the Pampa is being dumped on the forestland at Chakkupalam, near the KSRTC bus depot at Pampa. So far, no decision had been taken on the disposal of this sand and any further delay would lead to its washing out into the river itself once the monsoon strengthened, the association leaders said.