Thaneermukkom bund to be opened this week

ALAPPUZHA: The district administration has directed the mechanical wing of the Irrigation Department, the care taker of the Thanneermukkom bund, to open it before April 22 to save the ecology and fish wealth of the Vembanad Lake.  A meeting convened by the District Collector the other day had asked the Agricultural Department to submit a report immediately to take action in this regard. The bund was closed on December 20 to prevent the inflow of saline water into the farming fields. If the bund is not closed on time it will result in the collapse of outer bunds. Last year, the outer bunds in C block and Mangalam (Mainkyamangalam) Kayal lands had collapsed, which led to destruction of 2,500 hectares of paddy cultivation. After the incident, the Irrigation Department had closed the bund.  In December, the emergency shutters of the bund were opened for a few days owing to the increase in water level in the lake.  Though the closure of the bund was a boon to the farmers, it has an adverse impact on the ecology of the region. The environmentalists and agricultural scientists have been protesting against it. K M Poove, secretary of Kayal Samrakshana Samiti, an environmental activists group, said that during farming season, the farmers used to pump water from the kayal land, where pesticides are being used extensively, to the lake. This affects the fish wealth as the lake will get polluted.  “As the inflow from the Meenachil, Pamba and Manimala river would decrease in the summer, the polluted water will get logged in the heart of the lake,” he said adding that the pollution in the lake has increased owing to the closure of the bund. The fish wealth drastically depleted owing to this and the only remedy is to open the bund periodically,” he said. V J Kurian, Principal Secretary, Water Resources Department, said the department was planning to open the bund during the neap tide.  “If the bund is opened during neap tide, the water from the lake will flow downstream. It will help the purification of the lake water,” he said.