As the unabated pollution of the Thamirabarani river continues with the devotees taking bath in the river discarding tonnes of old clothes and local bodies continuing to discharge sewage into the perennial river supplying drinking water to several millions of population in four southern districts, District Collector Anand Mohan visited some of the ‘major pollution points’ on Saturday to understand the gravity of this issue.Since, devotees visiting Sri Papanasa Swami Temple at Papanasam discard their clothes in the Thamirabarani after taking bath in the river, the place where the river enters the plains from the Western Ghats, the water is seriously polluted. Moreover, more than 25 lodges, around 30 eateries and hotels in Papanasam still discharge their sewage into the river ignoring the warnings from District Collectors on several occasions.“Polluting the river with wilful discharge of sewage is a punishable offence under The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974 along with the provisions of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. However, no official in Tirunelveli district has the courage to invoke this provision against those who pollute the Thamirabarani. If a few polluters are arrested and punished by the Court, this problem will come to an end,” suggests advocate Muthuraman.Since Mr. Anand Mohan, while assuming office recently made it clear that intensive and sustained measures would be put in place to save the Thamirabarani with the cooperation of all stakeholders, he visited the river flowing near Papanasa Swami Temple, the first pollution point, on Saturday. He also inquired with the officials about the sewage flowing into the river from the lodges, eateries and the hotels in Papanasam and other places so as to initiate immediate legal action against these commercial establishments.The Collector, after inspecting a few more pollution points where the Thamirabarani gets polluted by the sewage flowing from the hamlets along the watercourse and due to the callous attitude of Vickramasingapuram and Ambasamudram municipalities and a few town panchayats, visited Karuppanthurai, C.N. Village, Manimurtheeswaram, Vannarpet and Arugankulam, all falling under the Tirunelveli Corporation, where the river is seriously polluted by sewage as work on the second and third phases of underground drainage works are still dragging.“A clear plan of action, which will also spell out the legal action to be initiated against the polluters of Thamirabarani, is to be tabled in the meeting to be chaired by the Collector likely during next week. The meeting is likely to set deadlines for the local bodies, including Tirunelveli Corporation, for implementing credible infrastructure like underground drainage scheme to avert the river pollution. So, action-packed months can be expected,” said a senior revenue official. Published - June 06, 2026 06:15 pm IST