A bane for water treatment plant project

KOCHI: The Meenachil River project will remain a dream, says Kochi Corporation councillor and senior leader N Venugopal. He said that the Finance Minister was trying to revive a project that was termed not-so-feasible even by the government agencies.“As per the revised plan, at an estimated cost of Rs 120 crore, 100 million litres of water will be shifted daily from Muvattupuzha river to Meenachil river. An underground tunnel will be constructed for the purpose,” said Venugopal who recently presented a resolution in the Corporation Council meeting in this regard.“If implemented, it would seriously affect Kochi’s Water Treatment Plant project as Muvattupuzha river is the sole source for the project. The Kerala Water Authority (KWA) had already given reports that the Muvattupuzha river itself is affected by shortage of water from January to June every year,” said Venugopal.He said that the Meenachil River Valley project was proposed to meet the water requirements for agricultural purpose of Pala and Erattupetta. “But in Pala the major crop is rubber which does not require much water,” said Venugopal. Earlier,  Mayor Tony Chammany had also expressed concern over the Meenachil River project to the Chief Minister.