Varattar River (Pamba)

The legislative Committee for Environment inspected the Varattar river bed in 2002 to assess the encroachments and observed that almost two-thirds of the Varattar was encroached by locals for cultivating rice, vegetables, tapioca and fodder grass.^[6] In 2014 River rejuvenation project was carried out to revive the river.^[7] Land encroachments and sand sedimentations were removed and the flow of water was restored.^[8] A second phase of this project was carried out in 2017.^[9][10] 12 acres of encroachments from a 4 km stretch of the river were evicted. Man-made structures constructed along the river were removed through mutual consultations.^[11] The ‘Varatte aar’ (‘let the river come’ in Malayalam) campaign was a unique experiment in water conservation and environment management efforts.^[12]

Varattar has regained its lost glory after the rejuvenation works and because of which water flowing from Koyipram Varalthodu, Poovannappuzhathodu, Poongayilthodu, and Chennathu Puthenthodu through Idanaadu reached Aadipamba, near Panchavadi.^[13]

The major direct benefits of Varattar are water for Household Use, fertile soil on the banks of the Varattar, means of transporting goods and passengers, irrigating agricultural lands in the two panchayats. The Varattar was a major corridor for transportation of snake boats which came from far to participate in the Aranmula Snake boat race.^[14]