Expert panel submits report on Korapuzha dredging

The expert committee led by Assistant Collector S. Mohanapriya, which examined complaints regarding the dredging works in the Korapuzha river, has submitted its report to District Collector Snehil Kumar Singh.

The report was prepared after committee members visited Mattuvayal and held a meeting with the officials concerned. Sources said the Collector would convene a meeting to discuss the report’s findings and take a decision on resuming the dredging work.

Residents, meanwhile, said that they would block the dredging work if the authorities decided to resume it.

Recently, mass protests erupted in the region over allegations by residents and political parties that sand was being illegally extracted under the guise of dredging to remove accumulated silt and other sediments from the Korapuzha river. It forced the authorities to temporarily halt the dredging work.

Protesters then blocked the contracting firm from transporting sand from Mattuvayal. Fishers and residents also demolished a temporary bridge constructed over the Azheekkal canal, which was allegedly being used to transport sand. They complained that the company had been engaged in “indiscriminate” sand mining without adequate government oversight.

Residents also stopped an attempt to dump sludge generated after sand removal into a deep pit at Mattuvayal.  According to them, as per the contract, the sludge generated after processing the soil was supposed to be removed from the area. However, this condition was allegedly violated, and there was an attempt to dump it within Mattuvayal itself.

People also claimed that water levels in open wells in the area had been dwindling and that saline water was found in some water sources.

Following the protests, Minister for Forest and Wildlife A. K. Saseendran, who is also the local MLA, intervened, and the district administration appointed the expert committee, which also included an executive engineer from the Irrigation department, the tehsildar, and officials from the Department of Geology.

The dredging work, being carried out under the aegis of the Irrigation department, covers a stretch between the Korapuzha estuary and the Korapuzha railway bridge. The work, which began in 2022, aims to remove around two lakh cubic metres of soil. The accumulation of silt has been hindering the movement of fishing boats and causing flooding in nearby areas by reducing river flow.

The work is being carried out at a depth of three-and-a-half metres, with a width of 100 to 140 metres, over a length of 1,600 metres from the mouth of the estuary eastward.