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SOCIO-ECONOMIC and ECOLOGICAL Conbeqiences OP WATER CONTROL PROJECTS

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SOCIO-ECONOMIC and ECOLOGICAL Conbeqiences OP WATER CONTROL PROJECTS Working Paper No.87 SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND ECOLOGICAL CONbEQIENCES OP WATER CONTROL PROJECTS. TliE CASE OP KUTTANAL in KERALA (INDIA) K. P. Kannan Centre for Levelopment Studies Ullcor, Trivandrum 695011 March 1979 ;* "k; • V \Tv > ^ . • ■ , 'f'• '■ ,v 'f , "V . 5'.- . V" w;;. Mji;'V-V -, - ' inhabited and intensely exploited v/aterlogged region in Kerala and their impact on the lives of different sections of the po pulation in that region. Preoccupation v;ith teclinical aspects to the exclusion of the broader economic, social and environ mental iactors and the institutional constiaints, in the formu m lation and execution of the projects, seejn to have given rise to effects, adverse and mostly unforeseen. Several social groups, particularly the weaker set»tions, appear t«have been seriously impoverished and others though less sericusly, ad versely affected. Surprisingly, even the toclmical efficiency which constituted the sole preoccupation of the designers, of some among the projects, do not appear to be beyond doubt. Problems which ought to have received utmost attention seem therefore, to have been sadly missed or relegated to the back ground, The contention of this paper is that such omission and misplaced emphasis were not accidental but born out of the eco nomic and political power of the dominant interest group whose interests the projects were intended to serve. Paradoxically, > however, the adverse effects of the projects do not seem to have spared even the dominant interest group who, of late, have become as increasingly restive as the other sections of the population. Kuttanad, a low lying area extending over 874 sq. km., had a population of I.46 million people in I971 distributed over 79 villages in the Kottayani and the Alleppey districts. Of the total area, approximately 504 sq.km, are garden lands with an average elevation of one metre above sea level, presently used for paddy crop. The area below sea level is annua-lly subjected to severe flooding during both the monsoon i^eriods by water drained by foiir rivers (I'ieenachil, Pamba, Manimala and Achen- koil), with a discharge of 1,89,000 cusecs d\iring the south west monsoon period alone. About 80 sq. km, comprises the Vembanad lake and the various water courses including rivers and man-made canals. Kuttanad is a densely populated area with 1,128 persons per sq.km. against the average of 549 fo^ Kerala o-nd _82^ for India in I97I0 However, the area available for human settlement being-very small - the garden lands accoant:Lng only for about 55 per cent of the total area - the efiecoive density of population is much higher^ Ke:jly 40 per cent o.:. the labour f-orce, which forms about 28 per cent of the, total population, consists of agricultural labourers. Kutt-onad has one of the highest rates of literacy in the State, 72 pe-^ comp^r to 60 per cent for Kerala. The people have a remarkable de gree of social and political consciousness and Kuttanad had witnessed several radical political struggles m.rhe presen.- century. Political and trade union organisation of the agrr- qtarted in Kiittacad? :.The ,h:.gh cultural labourers was fust , j.. • T A T^niitiral level of social and polxticar consciousness,cux ^ which enabled-one^ poor to organise andA secureoor.iTrp many trade union rights, 3.s noj, ■, o -u -iTTi-nressive measure however matched by any rmp of eccnomic progress,^ -iri the area even as early as the The high density of popuj.ation . , „ •w^XI -fVip moderate beginning of the century and the mod.er.re to hign'raoes 01 ^ growth during the ensuing period, '-•ondit"!-on.i o-cs of near--s i-agnaT.ron in the non-agrrculturar•oiiltural sectorsoo and the ^absence o± .any-. oasrci n institutional changesu 0 for ameideratingame-.-o o the economrc baclvwardxiess of «« poor re^in the najor fea^n^es of he eoohon. of .lie- region. This is the haohgrcuno against ,wh.oh we ex^ine the i. act Of the ^ior water- conti-oi -■ irrai projects develoT-mer.n., implemented A summaryin Kuttanad of a^ of population -n Kuttarrxd by sex, . occupational status is given in Table 1. ! literacy and o..iCupo. B a Efforts to develop Kuttanad as a rice growing area began idfi f than a cent.n:y ago. Since the flood waters carry a large volumee ofo fertile^ silt,effectively it was recognised regulated, oulte much early of thetlxat low- if : r the flood waters lying d could be used to growflood a rich control rice crop. work wereIn thelargely early- phases, reclama - Table 1 : Distribution of population In Kuttanad region by sex, llteraoy and o«upation (figures in 'OOJe) Area(in Population Literate "^7~Z ~~ 0(50 - _ _ Agri- Pisn- Mamrfao- Se's) io~aT"T;iT~;^I kers. 3aboii"-ttll SfAstock & non- ces workers''on- — rerso etoo householi) 143.15 1456.43 723.02 733.41 1037.53 546.52 491.01 414.16 65.26 166.73 17.85 55.57 IO8.74 I042.27 (100) (16) (40) (4) (14) (26) ■ ri2j Source; Census 1971, Series-9| Kerala, Mstrj^Census Kandbj3oki_All_e2£e^cmd Kottayan, I973. square brackets indicate the percentage of workers and non-workers out of xne total population. undertaien at the Initiative of private laimers though with the active assistance of the Ste.teM Though the area so reclaimed , steadily increased, almost all of it was used to grow only one crop of paddy a year. In the 1930's, faced with severe shortage of rice, the then Government ofTravanccrd e^tored the possrhi- lities of ralslng't^jrTrops of paddy in the reclaimed lands. The studies made then identified thej^peedyjglnage of the floods during the ncrtlseasl. monsoon season and the prevention of saline water Incursion during the summer months Into the Vem- han^ iSe'Ts the pre";^5«Ws for Intensifying paddy cultrva- tion in the region. The project however was given concrete shape only some two decades later and consisted of (a) a Spillway_at Thottappally (henceforth referred to as the Spillway) which was eventually commissioned in 1955, meantJojrain off flood wa ers, (b) a Regulator at Thanneemmuldcom (henceforth referred to as e j'Regulator)•-i \ meantj. toX checklooonir thetVip inxrusiin'trusio^ saline waieDj and., ^vill a 4P • km long linkn . 1 road^ TiPtueenbetween iixo.Alleppey ,> and Changanacherry The ^ latter two projects have had a rather chepuered oonstruotion of the Regulator started in 1956 ^ complete stage when it was commissioned by the en o 974- - Alleppey-ChanganacheiryIn -r^v road also remains^ incomplete mainly due to the non-completion of 5 connecting bridges. As we shall see later the Spillway failed to discharge the designed ra ,e of • 64,000tho cusecs food thereby level inproving Kuttanad, to be thanfar less effective in keeping down bnc had been expected.d. ,4 Ac, for the ,^,^eotedReguJlator, adversewxthin four effects, ^c-ars bothoi its commissions^. j^pnlation of the region, have on farming an which are believed to be come to surface. vear, are broadly as follows; gradually intensifyl-S year after y . ,(a), a sharp decline^ inyembanad the catch laho of along shrimps with and the fish in- brought ih cursion of san waters mixed seasonally with fresh water in the lake? (h) a phenomjnal growth in a particv lar type of acqtiatiu weed, locally known as African Payal-^ with serious adverse effects on the cultiva tion oi paadj^, ana oiaiispv^x tation and fishingj and (o) the pollution of fresh water in the lake and other water courses In the Kuttanad area caused by the African Payal, and the interruption of the natural ebb and flow of tidal water into and from the water body with adverse effects on" the health of the population in the region. Section II deals at some length with the divergence bet ween the actual and expected effects ofthe development projects in Kuttanad as well as the reasons therefor. Problems in rais ing the paddy crop, the development of which was the sole aim of projects so far Implemented in Kuttanad, are also dealt with in this section. In Section III ve examine the problems faced by the fishermen who have been most adversely affected by the ope ration of the Eegul.tor whiA was intended .or the control of saline water incursion li.cu •tl.u region. A brief account of the problems of persons engaged in other occupations In Kuttanad is also given nere. 'faa probremb .uia. ceme up in the, course of implementation ofa recent project for laid development are Moussed in Section W. m Seotlon V, we look into some of. e important problems which should have been accorded high priority but were so far neglected (iJJce the problems of agri- « engineering and public health;. few concluding ob servations are presented in the last section. II Imuact of development pro,iectss Rpillway at Thottappall£. The search for a permanent solution to the problem of floods in Kuttanad started as early as 1934 by the then Govern ment of Travancore. In 1957, two Italian engineers comissioned by the Government suggested the cutting open of a flood-way clian- nel from the Vembanad lake, at Aryad just north of Alleppey, to the sea. Two years later, another suggestion to cut open o. spillway channel intoI thej_i sea atr~+ Thottappaixymvin+ta'Doallv aabout 20 kms. south of^ Alleppey was made^ -hirby anQ-n ExecumYPcutive Envineer of the Government, The latter suggestion, though anrreuted P W the Government, was not taken up till 1951* When woxk on the construction of the Spillway, with a length of 368 metres, was startedc+oT+Pri in 1951,i:^:? , the estimated^ cost of constiuction was Rs.57Ro ^7 la^nlakhs.
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