Water Supply and Sanitation Minister Roshy Augustine has said his immediate priority is to alleviate the problems being faced by people in coastal areas in eight districts in the State.
Talking to The Hindu, he said protection walls would be built and temporary measures taken to prevent seawater from entering residential areas. A sum of ₹1 crore each had been allotted to seven coastal districts and ₹2 crore to Ernakulam, with special focus on Chellanam where the damage was high.
An additional amount of ₹30 lakh from the non-Plan fund had already been allotted to Chellanam to meet emergency requirements, the Minister said.
Mr. Augustine said projects for cleaning and protection of streams would be evolved. Drinking water supply would be strengthened. Projects would be taken up to clean rivers and make available quality drinking water. More projects would be taken up to solve the shortage of drinking water during the summer. Quality drinking water for all was his aim, he said.
The Minister said he envisaged linking agriculture with irrigation. This would enhance agriculture production and help farmers. New irrigation projects would be taken up to strengthen the farming sector and those projects remaining incomplete would be taken up soon, he said.
