Central Travancore politics dives into floodwaters as local body polls loom

With local body elections on the doorsteps, political battlelines are being drawn not just on land, but across the rivers and lakes of central Travancore too.
Environmental issues have surged to the centre of the political discourse as parties crank up their campaign machinery. The Kerala Congress(M), for instance, has sprung into action with a symposium on the recurring floods in the Meenachil river.
Addressing the event, KC(M) Chairman Jose K. Mani called for a complete overhaul in water management strategies, urging the State to adopt long-term flood-control plans. 'River and stream storage capacities must be maximised. Check-dams should follow a seasonal protocol. Desilting and waste removal from waterbodies are crucial, and excess river sand must be auctioned,' he said.
The party plans to compile the recommendations that came up in the symposium and present them to the State government. Interestingly, the KC(M) itself holds the State's Water Resources portfolio, with Roshy Augustine at the helm.
The rival faction led by P.J. Joseph, on the other hand, is launching a protest campaign anchored on Vembanad Lake, which serves as the lifeline for the flood-prone Kuttanad and upper Kuttanad regions.
Charging that neglect and government inaction have brought the lake to the brink, the first phase of its protest kicks off on Saturday, June 28, on the banks of Vembanad near the Vaikom boat jetty .
'Silt, mud, and garbage have choked Vembanad Lake, drastically cutting its storage capacity. Frequent floods and crop destruction have become the norm. The State and Centre have ignored the Swaminathan commission's recommendations. Even the much-hyped Kuttanad Package remains a paper promise,' the party said, in a statement.
It is demanding immediate, targeted action: restore the lake, revive dying waterbodies such as the Kariyar and Thottappally, safeguard paddy fields, and rollout special flood-relief projects across Kottayam, Alappuzha, and Pathanamthitta.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

The Hindu

an hour ago

• The Hindu

V.S. Achuthanandan, former Kerala CM and Communist veteran, suffers heart attack

V.S. Achuthanandan, former Kerala Chief Minister and veteran leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)], was hospitalised around 10 a.m. on Monday (June 23, 2025) at SUT Hospital at Pattom in Thiruvananthapuram following a heart attack. He is 101 years old. Hospital sources said Mr. Achuthanandan has been admitted to the ICU and that his current condition was stable. Popularly known as 'VS', Mr. Achuthanandan turned 101 on October 20, 2024. Mr. Achuthanandan had been a towering and fiery presence in Kerala politics for decades. Mr. Achuthanandan was born into a family of agricultural workers at Punappara in Alappuzha in 1923. In 1964, Mr. Achuthanandan left the Communist Party of India's (CPI) national council to become one of the founding members of the breakaway CPI(M). The Punnapra-Vayalar uprising, often called Kerala's October Revolution, against the Travancore Diwan's bid to self-rule and to follow the American model of governance led to a mass uprising in which he was tasked with working underground to organise people. But he was arrested in Poonjar and subjected to the worst custodial torture at the Pala police station.

Mint

an hour ago

• Mint

Assembly Bypoll Result Live: Congress wins Kerala's Nilambur; AAP vs BJP face-off in Gujarat's Visavadar

Assembly Bypoll Result Live: The Congress-led UDF candidate Aryadan Shoukath has won the Nilambur assembly by-poll in Kerala by 10,928 votes. The poll panel said Shoukath defeated M Swaraj, the candidate of the ruling CPI(M), on Monday. Shoukath is the son of late Congress stalwart Aryadan Muhammed, while Swaraj is a state secretariat member of the CPI(M). Shoukath said the outcome was expected. "It was a victory anticipated by the people of Kerala - a major win against the LDF government," he said. Counting for the assembly bypolls held in five constituencies in four states - Gujarat, Kerala, West Bengal and Punjab - began on Monday. Two assembly bypolls were held in Gujarat, one each in Kerala, West Bengal, and Punjab, on June 19. In Gujarat, Aam Aadmi Party candidate Gopal Italia is currently leading in Gujarat's Visavadar assembly seat with a margin of 4,181 votes, after the 10th round of counting, against the BJP's candidate Kirit Patel. In Gujarat's Kadi seat, BJP's Rajendra Chavda is ahead with 12,701 votes while Congress' Ramesh Chavda was trailing with 6,949 votes. AAP candidate Sanjeev Arora was leading with a margin of 2,286 votes against his nearest rival and Congress nominee Bharat Bhushan Ashu from the Ludhiana West assembly seat in Punjab. After six of the 14 rounds of counting, Arora had polled 14,486 votes and Ashu 12,200 votes. Though Arora maintained the overall lead, Ashu led the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds of counting. The bypoll was necessitated following the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January. The Trinamool Congress was leading by over 19,000 votes in the by-election to the Kaliganj assembly seat in West Bengal's Nadia district even as counting was underway on Monday. It was a victory anticipated by the people of Kerala - a major win against the LDF government. After seven rounds of counting, TMC candidate Alifa Ahamed secured 32,308 votes, while her nearest rival, Congress candidate Kabil Uddin Shaikh, backed by the CPI(M), bagged 13,144 votes. BJP nominee Ashis Ghosh was trailing in the third position, securing 11,987 votes, election officials said.

New Indian Express

an hour ago

• New Indian Express

HD Deva Gowda asks PM Modi to help farmers as mango rates crash, weather hurts

BENGALURU: Former prime minister HD Deve Gowda on Sunday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, seeking the Centre's intervention in helping Karnataka's mango cultivators, who have suffered a double-whammy of unpredictable prices and bad weather. Karnataka is a major contributor to mango production globally, Gowda pointed out, requesting the Centre to initiate a Price Deficiency Payment and Market Intervention Scheme for immediate fruit procurement in Karnataka through NAFED and NCCF, which will support farmers and alleviate rural distress. 'Further, mango is one of the major horticultural crops of Karnataka, cultivated over an area of 1.39 lakh hectares, particularly in Bengaluru Rural, Bengaluru Urban, Chikkaballapura, Kolar, and Ramanagara districts, with an estimated output of 8-10 lakh tonnes during the rabi season. However, due to inclement weather and diseases, the mango yield has dropped to less than 30 per cent this year, according to farmers,' Gowda wrote. 'Prices fell from Rs 12,000 per quintal to Rs 2,000, while the cost of cultivation was Rs 5,466 a quintal. This has financially stressed the farmers, with many small and marginal mango growers unable to cover even basic costs,' he elaborated. He said Andhra Pradesh's ban on Totapuri mangoes from entering Chittoor district, which borders Karnataka, has disrupted the supply chain, risking post-harvest losses for the state's border mango growers, noting: 'This has created tension among the mango growers leading to protests in many districts, especially Kolar and Chikkaballpura.' Gowda also mentioned that the Karnataka Chief Minister and Chief Secretary have asked the AP government to revoke the ban immediately.