Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday urged the Centre to provide more technical expertise for cleaning up the holy river Pamba, flowing through the foothills of the famous Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala.
Vijayan made known Kerala's plea when the high-level central team for Pamba rejuvenation met him in Thiruvananthapuram today.
The Chief Minister also wanted the work to be carried on without causing any hardships to the thousands of devotees visiting the temple during the November-January pilgrim season, an official release said.
The team, led by Central water commission chief engineer J C Iyer, informed the chief minister that a preliminary report would be submitted to the central government within 15 days.
The team, appointed by the Central government to finalise a Pamba action plan envisaged at maintaining the flow of water and preventing pollution, visited various places including Pamba, Triveni, Cherukol Puzha, Aranmula, Ranni and Chengannur.
State Water Resources Minister, Mathew P Thomas, who was also present, said that a joint project, coordinating various departments, would be implemented to save Pamba.
The central team was formed after BJP state President, Kummanam Rajasekharan met Union Minister Uma Bharati and sought Rs 1,000 crore for the Pamba project.