In flood-prone Kuttanad, a canal is in the works for seven decades
The Hindu
Many reports moot completion of AC canal to reduce flooding, but encroachments pose a problem
In the early 1950s, the then Travancore Government had drawn up a detailed plan for the development of the Kuttanad region with three major components — construction of a spillway at Thottappally, building a saltwater barrage at Thanneermukkom, and a road-cum-canal connecting Alappuzha and Changanassery.
The first two components and the first part of the third element, the 24-km Alappuzha- Changanassery (AC) road, materialised over a period of time. But, the Alappuzha-Changanassery (AC) canal, parallel to the AC road, meant to drain excess water from the Manimala and Pampa rivers to Vembanad Lake has remained incomplete for almost seven decades after it was first mooted.

In , the grape capital of India and host of the Simhastha Kumbh Mela every 12 years, environmental concerns over a plan to cut 1,800 trees for the proposed Sadhugram project in the historic Tapovan area have sharpened political fault lines ahead of local body elections. The issue has pitted both Sena factions against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which leads the ruling Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra. While Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief, and Uddhav Thackeray, chief of the Shiv Sena (UBT), remain political rivals, their parties have found rare common ground in Tapovan, where authorities propose clearing trees across 34 acres to build Sadhugram and a MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) hub, as part of a ₹300-crore infrastructure push linked to the pilgrimage.












