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G.K. Nair

KOCHI, June 11

THE southwest monsoon seems to have eluded most of Kerala where it used to hit on the first of June almost every year. Only some parts of northern Kerala received some showers two days ago, with no rains in central and southern regions. "It is going to have a serious impact, especially in the power, agriculture and drinking water sectors," official sources said.

Water level in the reservoirs of major hydel projects did not pick up last year because of the deficient southwest monsoon. This had compelled the Kerala State Electricity Board to reduce power generation from its hydel sources to less than 50 per cent.

The situation had necessitated drawing of more power from the central grid. Added to this was the fire at the Moozhiyar Power House of Sabarigiri, the second major hydel power project in Pathanamthitta district recently, which rendered all but one generator non-operational.

According to KSEB sources, the catchment areas of Sabarigiri and Idukki projects have not received any rains so far. With the water currently available in the Idukki reservoir, only 136 million units of power, probably for 15 days, could be generated while generation from Sabarigiri has become negligible.

On Tuesday, 6.3 million units of power were produced from Idukki. The State requires 38 million units of power daily and to meet this demand, 2.9 million units are drawn from other sources. Of this, 1.5 million units come from the central and eastern grids. Supply from the eastern grid has now been stopped due to repairs of the 400-KV Thalchar-Kolar line.

The State has been receiving 150 MW of power from the eastern grid. The situation reached such a stage that the electricity board had to extend the load shedding to one hour in the peak hours daily. However, the State Electricity Minister, Mr Kadavoor Sivadasan, said that the problems connected with the supply of power from the eastern grid would be solved in a week.

Paddy cultivation in the districts of Kasargod, Palakkad, Thrissur, Alappuzha and Kottayam had also been affected. The farmers who had prepared the field for the second crop could not sow the seeds for want of water in the fields. "The weather pattern has changed in recent years, negatively affecting the crops", they pointed out.

Similarly, absence of showers in the cardamom growing areas in the Idukki district would hit the crop next season. "Cardamom crop mainly depended on the rains and if it failed it could affect the production next season," a grower said. Several other crops, which are grown under rain-fed conditions, would also be adversely affected, Mr Sivadasan said.

Another major impact of the current phenomenon was that it would aggravate the drinking water problem in the State. Most of the rivers dried up in the summer and the water table has fellen to such a level that there is no water in the wells and ponds in the rural areas.

Ever since the indiscriminate sand mining began in the State, the level of riverbed had fallen significantly and as a consequence the water table had gone down, Mr N.K. Sukumaran Nair, General Secretary, Pamba River Protection Council, said.

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Monsoon delay cripples power and farm sectors in Kerala

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