Govt revives plan for Athirappilly project.

Electricity Minister M.M. Mani’s reply to an unstarred question in the Assembly stating that the State government had gone ahead with its proposals to revive and implement the Athirappilly hydroelectricity project has triggered strong protests across not only the political spectrum but also among environmentalists.

The project had been virtually given up owing to the all-round opposition to it. The Pinarayi Vijayan government had earlier made an attempt to revive the project as soon as it came to power, but dropped the idea when the CPI, a main partner in the Left Democratic Front, came out against the project.

The Congress had also expressed its opposition to the project, with Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala conducting a fact-finding mission to the project site to assess the depth of opposition to the project.

The Electricity Minister has been in the forefront of reviving the Athirappilly project, but he could not make any headway owing to strong political opposition. KPCC president M.M. Hassan said his party was opposed to the hydel project which would lead to submerging of forestland and seriously affect the ecology of the area.

Another major campaigner against the project, former KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran, in his Facebook post, said the project was being revived because of the pressure of the contractor lobby in the Kerala State Electricity Board.

The government has not been able to give an appropriate response to the apprehensions expressed by the people about the relevance of the project, he said.

He said proper studies had not been conducted. Some of the major objections to the project is that sufficient water was not available for production of electricity throughout the year, as a result of which it would not be possible to produce the projected power. The cost of the project will be prohibitive.

The All India Youth Federation (AIYF), a pro-CPI youth outfit, also made it clear that it would oppose the proposal.

The Electricity Minister’s stand that he would be able to implement the project disregarding the popular opposition to it was a pipe dream, since the LDF had come to power on the strength of its promise that it would promote development projects that did not harm the environment, the AIYF said in a statement here.

THE HINDU