A group of farmers under the aegis of the Action Council Against Thondar Dam, a coordination committee of eight farmer groups in Thondarnadu, Edavaka, and Vellamunda grama panchayats, is gearing up to launch a series of agitations with the support of the Wayanad Prakruthi Samrakshana Samiti (WPSS) against the construction of a dam across the Thondar rivulet, a tributary of the Kabini river at Moolithodu in the district.
The project envisages collecting 0.3 tmcft of water after constructing an earthen dam across the Moolithodu rivulet to irrigate 1,411 hectares in the three grama panchayats.
However, S. Sharafudheen, coordinator of the organisation, said that more than 150 families, including 50 tribal families, would be evicted for the first phase construction of the reservoir.
“According to a feasibility study, the reservoir will be constructed at a height of 13.5 metre, and we suspect that as much as 1,500 acres will be used for the reservoir. The project will adversely affect close to 650 families, including 150 tribal families, in seven wards under the three civic bodies,” Mr. Sharafudheen said.
“We have been living peacefully in the area for the past many generations, and we are yet to face issues related to drinking water, man-animal conflict, flood, and drought,” M.K. Kelu, vice chairman said.
Mr. Raman possesses 5 acres, and farming is the sole source of income for the 70-year-old tribesperson. “If the project is executed, it will wipe out our paddy cultivating land,” he said.
“We will not allow officials to enter our land for survey for the project, as the public is against the project,” says V. Abdulla, chairman of the organisation. The villagers detained officials who had reached the area for the survey nearly a month ago.
N. Badusha , president, WPSS, said that the Banasura Sagar dam, the largest earthen dam in the country, on the Kabani river basin was built to support the Kakkayam hydroelectric power project and provide water for irrigation. But the irrigation project was still in limbo even after ₹53 crore was spent on it.
Though successive governments had spent ₹400 crore for the Karapuzha irrigation project since 1980, it was yet to meet its target, Mr. Badusha said. The Thondar project will also meet the same fate, he said.
Mr. Sharafudheen warned that the coordination committee would form a human wall in the affected area on January 15 as a part of the protest. If the government moved ahead with the project, agitations will be intensified, he said.
