No political decision to revive Athirappilly project: Kerala power minister Krishnankutty
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T'puram: Power minister K Krishnankutty said the govt has not taken any policy decision to go ahead with the
Athirappilly hydel power project
.
KSEB
is only trying to explore the project site's
tourism potential
without directly pushing the 163MW controversial hydel project, he said.
The minister told TOI that KSEB was exploring the possibility of setting up a couple of weirs, diverting water from the upper regions of the proposed Athirappilly hydel project site and that it was not for electricity generation purposes. "The weirs would help ensure the Athirappilly waterfall remains a year-round spectacle, increasing tourism attraction. The board is only exploring such possibilities to convince the local public regarding the proposed hydel project's sustainable nature," Krishnankutty said.
KSEB chairman and managing director Biju Prabhakar has taken the initiative to explore the tourism potential of the Athirappilly project site and nearby areas and engaged a Kozhikode-based agency, Environment Architecture and Human Settlements (C-EARTH), to submit a report on the same.
The move, however, is seen as yet another attempt to push the Athirappilly project through the backdoor. Following the queries raised by TOI over the proposed move, the KSEB CMD's office issued a press statement, saying that the move was indeed to explore the tourism potential along with the proposed hydel power project. Prabhakar stated the criticism raised against the project was totally unfounded and the dam would boost tourism and avoid flooding of the Chalakudy river.
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The successive govts were unable to go ahead with the Athirappilly power project on account of the protests from greens as well as political parties, including CPI. Since the KSEB move is to increase the project's acceptability, it doesn't require any political clearance from the govt, Krishnankutty said, adding that Kerala should explore more options to utilise the abundant hydel potential of the state if it wants to get out of the over-reliance on power from other states.
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