Even the other plans in the state to tackle the water shortage have failed to take off. Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government’s action plan to lessen the impact of a harsh summer has hit a hurdle as the Union government refused to clear a project to induce artificial rain in the state.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan informed the Legislative Assembly of the government’s plan to address drinking water shortage through measures such as cloud seeding but officials in the central department of climate change do not think that the project is a good idea.
The Union government has said that existing technologies are not feasible to cause artificial rain.
The officials said they had decided against the plan even before the Kerala government came up with the scheme. Other states, including Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have also given it a shot without any success, the central government officials pointed out.
Even the other plans in the state to tackle the water shortage have failed to take off. The government has announced that it will put up 11,000 water kiosks in areas experiencing a severe shortage of drinking water but less than 1,000 of them have been rolled out.
The government decided in November to expand the water kiosks, which were proved to be useful when launched in the previous summer. By the time the paperwork was completed and tenders were invited for the project, it was already February.
District collectors have been entrusted with the responsibility of procuring water kiosks and distributing water from them in specified areas. Only 950 kiosks have been set up across the state, hardly an improvement from the 766 bought last year.
The companies contracted with the government are required to set up water kiosks within 10 days of the collector’s order. In most of the districts, except Palakkad, Pathanamthitta, Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram, there are no signs of any new kiosks though. Two companies have been entrusted to supply the kiosks.
