Thiruvananthapuram: The Parasurama temple located on the banks of the river Karamana, is the only one temple dedicated to Sri Parasurama. Many Pilgrims visit this temple for ‘Balitharpanam’. People make offerings to their ancestors, after taking a dip in the holy river.

Today the river and its water is polluted to the extent that it is posing a dire health hazard to the people living on its banks as well as devotees who come here for paying obeisance.

Devotees are often put off by the layer of foul-smelling scum covering the surface of the water and will have second thoughts about visiting the place again,

Local people and environmental bodies believe that the problem could be eliminated by dredging the waters to facilitate tidal flushing.
Experts feel that extensive sand-mining from upstream of the river has aggravated the pollution of the river by depriving the river of its natural filtering mechanism.