Athirappilly Falls

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Athirappilly Falls

Athirappilly Falls is a tourist place in Athirappilly in Thrissur district of Kerala, south India. It is located 70 km from Kochi city, 55 km from Cochin International Airport, 60 km from Thrissur city and 30 km from Chalakudy Town. Athirappilly Falls is approximately 80 feet high and is on the Chalakudy River.

Athirappilly is easily reachable from Chalakudy by taking a vehicle for rent or by bus from the Chalakudy private bus terminal. Proper precautions are taken on site to prevent accidents while swimming and a police camp is always positioned there. Since Athirappilly is situated in the highways connecting Tamil Nadu and Kerala, night riding is not advised.

[edit] Proposed projects

Government proposed a 163 MW Athirappilly hydro power project but people's collectives such as the Chalakudy Puzha Samrakshana Samiti, Vana Samrakshana Samithi (Joint Forest Management Programme) and other cultural societies are against this projects.

The various river dependent communities in the river basin was opposing these projects for various reasons. The basic Environmental Impact assessment conducted by TROPICAL BOTANIC GARDEN AND RESEARCH INSTITUTE (TBGRI) not properly done. And the high court rejected this EIA and ordered for another one. WAPCOS, an agency from Hariyana did a study, but using the same datas of TBGRI. The people were opposing the project, because either TBGRI or WAPCOS were unable to prove that the project was feasible. The people who were living in the river basin for years has not been consulted in this enterprise. No panchayths(local self governance bodies) were aware of the study. In a democratic society, large governmental projects should be discussed in the public domain. But the Kerala State Electricity Board was always hiding facts from the people. This was the context where people realised that there should be some hidden agendas behind the project. And I think this is the first project, which got maximum stay orders from the high court. Now the river valley committee for hydro electric projects once again didn't give approval for the project. The people in the river valley pray that this project will not come, so that the irrigation schemes will not be in trouble. So that the beautiful waterfalls will not vanish forever. The authorities acknowledge these facts but as we all know they are unable to do anything for the future generation or present. Just because they are 'authorities'. But the people of the river valley is proving that they are the authority to their natural resources