The District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) chaired by the District Collector has started clearing the huge deposits of sand and debris left by the disastrous deluge of August 2018.
District Collector P.B. Noohu, accompanied by Thiruvalla Subcollector Vinay Goyal and other revenue officials, reached Pampa on Thursday morning and started the sand removal work by invoking provisions in Section 34(d) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
According to him, the move was to avert chances of floods in Pampa and surrounding areas in the foothills of Sabarimala. The DDMA decision to remove the sand using the State Disaster Response Fund came with Kannur-based Kerala Clays and Ceramic Products Limited (KCCPL) backtracking from the task entrusted with it on Thursday following objections raised by the Forest Department.
A committee chaired by Dr. Goyal has been constituted to monitor the progress of work on a day-to-day basis. Seven earthmovers have been pressed into service for loading the sand in trucks. A total of 29 trucks will be used to shift the sand to a site near the KSRTC depot at Pampa.
Dr. Goyal told The Hindu that the Irrigation Department had assessed the quantum of sand accumulated along the 2.23-km river stretch between Valiyanavattom and Pampa-Triveni at 1.23 lakh cubic metres.
A team of officials attached to the Revenue and Irrigation departments is camping at Pampa to monitor the sand collection and transportation. Dr. Goyal said the DDMA decision was to start the work at 6 a.m. and continue till 7 p.m. so that it could be completed in the next 10 days.
The debris of buildings destroyed in the deluge and heaps of tattered plastic bags used for constructing a temporary protection wall along the left bank too have to be removed from the river course.
The DDMA decision was against the backdrop of the heavy monsoon forecast, the Collector said.
Govt. move flayed
Meanwhile, Thomas P. Thomas, academic-turned environmentalist, said the undue haste shown by the district administration for removing the sand, bypassing even the mandatory clearance required for the same from the Union Ministry of Forests, Environment and Climate Change, under the cover of disaster management was highly suspicious.
Had the administration been so sincere in taking precautions against floods, it could have cleared the sand deposits in a proper and systematic manner in the past two years, without incurring such huge revenue loss to the public exchequer, he alleged.
