PATHANAMTHITTA: The Pampa Parirakshana Samiti (PPS) has called upon the Government to revamp and streamline the newly formed Department of Environment in the larger interests of addressing various environmental problems in the State.

In a memorandum to Minister for Forests and Environment, A. Sujanapal, PPS general secretary N.K. Sukumaran Nair alleged that the successive State Governments have been turning a blind eye towards various environmental problems facing the State over the past several years.

Mr. Nair alleged that the authorities concerned had miserably failed to make use of the positive stand taken by the Union Government in addressing the environmental problems threatening the rivers and lakes in the State during the past seven years.

"Wetlands are biodiversity-rich areas that help a lot in sustaining the ecological and environmental balance, besides contributing to the very existence of life on earth itself. The Vembanad wetlands have been included in the Ramsar Site. The lake was included in the National Lake Conservation Programme by the National River Conservation Agency way back in June 2003."

Though the State Government was supposed to submit a detailed project report on the proposed conservation of Vemband Lake, the authorities concerned are yet to take any effective step in this regard, the PPS leader alleged.

Mr. Nair said that the State Government was yet to utilise the Central fund sanctioned in May 2003, for implementing the first phase of the much-sought-after pollution abatement scheme for River Pampa.

According to him, the State was facing acute water scarcity because of the degradation of almost all the 44 major rivers and their tributaries. The sand deposits that acted as natural check dams in the rivers of Kerala have been plundered by the sand mafia.

Mr. Nair alleged that indiscriminate illegal river sand-mining, taking in place with the patronage of certain "self-centred politicians and irresponsible officialdom,'' has lowered the riverbed to drastic levels, polluting the drinking water sources in the surrounding areas too. This has also led to depletion of the groundwater table in the catchment areas of various rivers, aggravating the State's water scarcity, he added.

Even local self-Governments and various Government agencies, which were bound to ensure fool-proof implementation of the Kerala River Bank Protection and Regulation of Sand Mining Act, 2001, were often found to "favouring'' the sand mafia in different parts of the State, the PPS leader alleged.

According to him, the illegal conversion of wetlands as well as low-lying paddy fields in the name of development, violating all the prevailing land utilisation Acts, rules and regulations, is another serious problem that need to be addressed urgently.

Mr. Nair has called upon the Minister not to let the newly formed Environment Department be yet another "toothless'' Government agency.