The most important river system of Kerala, Bharathapuzha (Nila), which is the lifeline of Palakkad, Malappuram and Thrissur districts, is getting dried up as the water flow to the river has come to a standstill in most of its courses during this summer.

Though the river usually gets dried up during summer in small patches, this is the first time in the last several years that it got completely dried up in large stretches.

Thus for aU practical purposes, the holy river is dead, thanks to the ecological imbalances created by human wantonness.

Out of the 44 rivers of Kerala, this river was the most exploited and neglected one. The Government did not pay heed to earlier warnings about the imminent dangers facing the holy river.

A victim of PAP pact

The half-a-dozen dams, constructed across its tributaries under the Parambikualm Aliyar Project (PAP) inter- State water sharing agreement between Kerala and Tamil Nadu, have resulted in this sad state of affairs of Nila. The major chunk of water from these dams that would have come to the Bharathapuzha and Chaliyar river bas.ins was diverted to Tamil Nadu

Of late, the PAP agreement has become controversial due to the shortage of irrigation water for paddy cultivation in the Chittur taluk of Palakkad and water flow to Bharathapuzha.

Though the State Government had demanded its Tamil Nadu counterpart to revise the PAP agreement and release more water to Kerala, it had failed to highlight the fast death of Bharathapuzha river.

The question here is not the technicalities involved in the violation of an agreement, but to avert the death of a great river system. Many feel that the State Government should have taken it as a political issue with Tamil Nadu, to save Bharathapuzha.

An expert committee appointed by the State Government to study the problems of Bharathapuzha in 1997 found that the river faced a host of problems. The report said that excessive sand mining, lowering of water table in and around the river, lowering of the river bed, encroachment on banks, contamination of water, and erosion of river banks were the major problems faced by the river.

The committee report warned that, "with the present rate of extraction of sand, it is clear that the reserves would not last more than five to six years, even assuming that such extraction is permitted in spite of the consequent impact of serious degradation of the river channel and environment."

The committee, in its first report submilt<'d 10 thetitate Government in lilly 1991, recommended a local b sand extraction during monsoon months. II al recomended a han on inter-State transportation: sand from rivers in Kerala, entry of vehicles in the channel to collect sand. these recommendations not implemented by the Government and the w destruction of the river continued unabated res the present plight of Nila . Even the restrictions mining directed by the High Court were more than implemented by th authorities concerned, t activists of the Save Bharathapuzha Committee said.

Mr. M.T. Vasudevan Nair, noted writer, told The Hindu here today that he was greatly pained at the near loss of this holy river to Kerala. Mr. Vasudevan Nair, who hails from Koodallur on the banks of Nila, said most of his works are tales of Nila. He said the river is almost dead due to ecological imbalance created by human being.  Dr. N.M. Namboodiri, who is working on "Project Nila: a study on its cultural heritage", said that the evolution of society in this part took place on the banks of this sacred river. There were 300 temples on the banks of the river controlled by the Zamorin's of Kozhikode. JllJ~,. Political war on the banks of Nila and the markets emerged here also had historical importance.

A recent study on the "Environmental problems on water resources of Bharathapuzha river system", by 1Mr. K.K. Nair, a professional Y.~ydrologist, said that loss of the na'll;ural springs was a major rea:~on for the drying up of this rive\[. "Once the basin had a number of natural springs, which t. ad supplied the water to the thir crop of paddy cultivatioJ 1 in valleys. Now-a­days most f them are drying up before the s' -fond harvest."

He said that"~' the name of development aln ost aU sources of the river had b n blocked by constructing as mucl~ as 11 dams in different loca~on on the river-head. After st<.o ring the capable quantity of water>l1'lJ~ dams are closed. Therefore the. ~ water which can be stored by . These dams is being blocked and diverted through the canals. Besides this, the remaining water on the upper areas of the dams is also diverted through the canals by the dams. Hence the entire water on the upper region is being blocked and diverted through the canals. This has reduced the sources of the river.

Bharathapuzha may soon become part of history if urgent steps are not taken to revive this holy river. 

By G. Prabhakaran PALAKKAD, MARCH 17. The Hindu Regional Page.