Thanneermukkom barrage to be renovated soon

Alappuzha: A project worth about Rs.170 crore will soon get underway for renovation of the historic Thanneermukkom barrage, which stands as a man-made barrier to prevent saline water intrusion from the Arabian Sea into the Vembanad Lake.

The project, actually part of the M.S. Swaminathan Commission’s Kuttanad package, is however being initiated by the State government, which has decided to handover preparation of the project report to the IIT, Chennai, Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac said.

Inaugurating a vehicle procession publicising the launch of the Pathiramanal Ecotourism Project, which will be inaugurated by Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan at Muhamma.

Dr. Isaac said the State government would soon begin work on infrastructure projects worth around Rs.250 crore as part of implementation of the Kuttanad package.

Though the Centre was supposed to grant this amount, the State government was going ahead with the work in the hope that the Centre would not delay the payment, he said.

The Finance Minister, terming the Pathiramanal Ecotourism Project as the first and presently only one of its kind in the State, said the initiative was aimed at protecting the ecologically fragile Pathiramanal Island and the Vembanad Lake and also the lives of the people whose livelihoods depended on the Lake.

The Pathiramanal Island, which will become the State’s first bio-park once the project was completed, is home to 88 species of birds, 58 species of fish, 23 varieties of spiders, 34 species of butterflies and more than 160 plant species.

Under the project, a fish park at the island and a natural history park at the nearby Kayipuram in Muhamma panchayat would be set up. Muhamma Grama Panchayat president C.K. Bhaskaran, district panchayat president R. Nazar and Kanjikuzhy block panchayat president Jalaja Chandran accompanied Dr. Isaac during the procession.