Kila on a river protection mission in Kerala

KANNUR: The Kerala Institute of Local Administration (Kila) has embarked upon the mission of saving the rivers in the state with the participation of local bodies. After taking up a project to revive the Kuppam River in Kannur last year, Kila is now targeting Bharathapuzha and the revival work will begin soon, said Kila director P Balan.
"We have prepared a model that was first implemented in Kuppam River in Kannur, but our ultimate aim is to extend it to all the 44 rivers in the state with the support of the local bodies," he said.
"Ours is a different approach, including the implementation of long-term and short-term project proposals prepared by panchayats, which would be implemented through people's participation," he said. "Rather than the money involved, it is the support of the people that counts here." When the project to revive Kuppam River began last year, it was just an experiment, but the panchayats on the banks of the river extended immense support that made them think of implementing it elsewhere as well.
As part of protecting Bharathapuzha, a meeting of the authorities of 25 panchayats was called on May 12, and they would start works in their respective localities, he said.
"We follow a decentralized planning approach, and river side ‘grama sabhas’ are convened apart from holding development seminars to finalize the project document in each place so that it would have more people's participation thus spreading awareness at the grassroots level," he said.
People’s participation would ensure that it is a successful venture, as is evident from the example of Kuppam River. Further, Kila also provides basic training to the people at the panchayat level for the protection of rivers. Since the local body election is going to be held later this year, the plan is to have a river management and protection plan for every panchayat and municipality that comes to power after the election, the Kila director said.
It does not incur huge expenses, and funding is not a constraint, according to him. The river management fund of the local governments can be utilized for this purpose apart from other plan funds.Panchayats and municipalities can even formulate a five-year plan in this connection so that there will be a long-term impact.
Since sand mining is a major threat in most of the rivers, sensitization of the local populace and imbibing a sense of ownership in them is of paramount importance and this new concept is formulated based on that idea. When you protect a river, you actually protect not only an ecosystem but the future of a generation, points out Balan, who is confident of reviving all the rivers in Kerala in the next few years using this prototype, along with people's participation.