Lost river in Coimbatore will soon swing back to life :
After repeated attempts by activists to rejuvenate River Kowsika and petitioning the state government on the same, the district administration has made the first move to take up the project. The administration has prepared a detailed report for the project worth 87 crore. The report will be submitted to the state government for funding.
A few months ago, the agriculture engineering department surveyed the river’s bed, from its origin in the Kurudi mountains to original stream route until Aandipalayam village in Tirupur, where it joins the Noyyal River. Based on the survey, officials found the reasons behind the drying up of the river and ways to revive it.
“The river originates from a fall in the Kurudi mountains. For many decades, farmers have been diverting the stream and changing its course to benefit their farmlands,” says P K Selvaraj, an activist who has been campaigning for the revival of the river for several years. “Besides low rainfall in recent years, setting up of numerous brick kilns added to its woes. Brick kiln owners have been digging out gravel from 30-ft deep pits spread across 150 acres on the stream route to collect from the river,” he says.
To solve this problem, the agriculture engineering department has prepared a proposal for 87 crore to revive the river.
The proposal includes constructiion of big and small check-dams at required places and construction of rainwater harvesting pits or ponds in low-lying areas within a farmer’s cultivable land.
“We also plan to reinstate the original route through which the perennial river used to flow. We plan to desilt the river bed, make it deeper and plant native species of trees on both sides of the river to prevent soil erosion,” said one of the senior engineers working on the project.
“We also need to level the land through its route so a lot of water does not get collected and emptied in one location,” he said. The report will be submitted to the state government on Monday.
The 49.7km-long stretch of the river, which includes 39km in Coimbatore district and 10.8km in Tirupur, joins the Noyyal River at Aandipalayam. “The river will support at least 25,000 acres. So, once the river is rejuvenated even farmhands in the region will not move out looking for other work,” said the engineer.