The ongoing desilting and side protection works at the Canoly Canal in the city will be completed before the deadline despite adverse circumstances, Irrigation Department Executive Engineer K.P. Raveendran has said.
Talking to media persons during a press meet convened by the District Collector C.A. Latha at her chamber on Thursday, Mr. Raveendran said that 90 per cent of the scheduled work was completed on a 8.2-km stretch of the 11.2 km-long Canal from Eranhikkal to Kallyai and the remaining work including the construction of a parapet and restoration of ruined sidewalls in certain areas will be completed before the monsoon gathers strength.
“August is our deadline, but we will complete it before the schedule,” he said.
At the moment, desilting work is progressing on a 8.2-km stretch of the canal while the side-protection work is being done along 607 metres. Though administrative sanction was given to Rs. 4.6-crore works, technical sanction was given only for works to the tune of Rs. 2.4 crore. Mr. Raveendran also pointed out that the tender excess of 41 per cent will be met from the total allocated amount.
Waste dumpingMs. Latha said that there was opposition from different neighbourhoods to dumping of the silt despite the land owners themselves agreeing to it. “The work is being completed fighting against different odds,” she said.
According to Varghese Mani, assistant executive engineer, the public also should play their part in properly maintaining the canal. “They should stop considering the canal as a waste dumping spot,” he said.
Mr. Raveendran, who stated that the City Municipal Corporation should take up the responsibility to ensure proper maintenance of the canal, said that setting up silt traps at all the 50-odd cross drainages that drain into the canal was the only way to check silt and other concrete debris from entering the canal.
“Otherwise the entire effort and money would go down the drain before long,” he said.
