PATHANAMTHITTA: District Collector A.J. Rajan has said that ensuring protection of rivers was the duty of every citizen.

The Collector was inaugurating an environmental education and awareness campaign and teachers' training programme, jointly organised by the Kerala Water Authority and the Pampa Parirakshana Samiti (PPS) as part of the Pampa Action Plan at the Government High School at Kozhencherry today.

Mr. Rajan said that the district administration would extend all possible assistance for environmental education in all schools in the district.

According to him, active support and participation of the community was a prime necessity in the effective implementation of the proposed Pampa Action Plan envisaging pollution abatement of Pampa, which is the lifeline of the Central Travancore region.

Addressing the meeting, PPS general secretary N.K. Sukumaran Nair said that unscientific sand-mining and other excessive human intervention had led to the degeneration of Pampa.

He said that the dumping of wastes from slaughter houses, hospitals, markets, etc, into rivers and other water sources showed lack of public responsibility and awareness on its hazardous effects.

It was high time to launch an extensive awareness campaign to make the general public aware of the hazardous environmental pollution and degradation of water sources caused by their own actions, Mr. Nair said.

He said that the unscientific-sand mining has converted many rivers into mere skeletons and the rampant deforestation in the Western Ghats had badly affected the flow of water into the rivers.

He alleged that the riverbed of Pampa had gone down by more than four metres along several stretches owing to indiscriminate sand mining.

Mr. Nair said that the sand mafia was being supported by none other than certain ill-sighted politicians as well as a section of corrupt officials, who seldom cared the future and well being of the community in general.

The Deputy Director of Education, V.K.Saralamma, presided over the meeting.