Littered with sand and boulders that hurtled down the Vagamon hills during the previous monsoon, the Pullakayar - a river that wrecked havoc in the settler villages of Koottickal and Kokkayar in October last year, is finally being restored.
With just a couple of months left for the monsoon season to set in, teams of men and machines swooped down on the water body here and begun clearing the debris and silt that obstructs the natural flow of water.
The project, which forms a critical part of restoring the flood-ravaged Manimala river, is being implemented by the Irrigation and Revenue departments in association with the two local bodies along its banks.
Though the water body dried up immediately after the back to back flash floods in October last year, the deposits left behind by the water has given rise to concerns about a recurring flood phenomenon among the villagers. As per estimates by the Major Irrigation department, the silt and boulders has raised the riverbed by at least five feet.
According to P.S. Sajimon, president, Koottickal panchayat, the clean up is being initiated at six points along the river stretch from the Elamkadu top to the Koottickal Chapath.
“The sand and other debris will be shifted to the collection points in the adjacent rubber plantations and auctioned off on the basis of a government order. The proceeds from its sales, about 70 % of which will go to the two panchayats concerned, will be used for cleaning up the remaining portions,” he explained.
Commenting on the project, a top official with the Irrigation department said a clean-up of the riverbed was long overdue.
“It should have been carried out immediately after the extreme monsoon of 2018, which raised the volume of sand deposit in the Koottickal check dam by at least 1.5 feet. The stringent laws on sand mining, however, proved to be a major barrier in de-silting the waterbody,” noted the official.
The Pullakayar- a tributary of the Manimalayar, burst its banks during a landslide-induced flash flood on October 16, last year. The phenomenon triggered a cascade of events in the villages around it, which together reported 22 deaths.
Just months after the floods, the river has now been reduced a trickle with the sand and debris filling up several of the deep pits that existed on the riverbed.
