Mass fish kill: Kerala Irrigation department to form protocol for opening shutters at Pathalam

Mass fish kill: Kerala Irrigation department to form protocol for opening shutters at Pathalam

The Kerala government has asked the Department of Irrigation to prepare a standard operating protocol for lifting the shutters of the regulator-cum-bridge at Pathalam in the wake of the mass fish kill in the Periyar river on May 20 and 21.

The opening of the shutters will be based on the protocol to be shared with the Department of Industries, Kerala State Pollution Control Board, and the Eloor municipality. The Irrigation department will share the draft of the protocol with the rest of the stakeholders before finalising it.

The move comes amidst repeated incidents of fish deaths and discolouration near the bund and downstream, especially when the shutters are opened by the Irrigation department during heavy rain. Greens and social activists had suspected illegal discharge of untreated wastewater from the industrial units when the shutters were opened following heavy rain. Differences had cropped up between the department and the pollution board over the lifting of shutters, with the latter alleging that they were not kept in the loop about the process.

The Irrigation department had countered it by pointing out that it has been doing it for long and there was no need to keep the board informed about the lifting of shutters as their “duty” was to check the pollution of the Periyar river.

With the approval of the protocol, the Kerala government hopes to improve communication between the stakeholder departments and avoid large-scale fish deaths in the future. The Eloor municipality will also be informed about the operation of the shutters at the regulator-cum-bridge at Pathalam.

A meeting of various stakeholders convened by P. Rajeeve, Minister for Industries, after the mass fish kill had also recommended improved monitoring along the Edayar stretch of the river and its downstream.