Corporation to inspect drains along metro route

Complaints of workers emptying slurry into drains

Civic authorities are planning to inspect the drains along the metro route to ensure that they are properly desilted to carry floodwater.

The inspection of canals has been proposed following complaints from civic representative that the channels were not cleaned properly. Several councillors had raised the issue at the last meeting of the Corporation Council.

The Mayor would convene a meeting of officials of the Kochi Metro Rail Limited and a date would be finalised for inspection, said Soumini Jain, chairperson of the Works Standing Committee of the Corporation.

The metro authorities had offered to clean the drains along the Edappally-High Court Road stretch. However, there were complaints that cleaning was carried out only between a small stretch from Kaloor to Kathrikadavu. The veracity of the complaint needed to be verified, Ms. Jain said.

She added that there were fresh complaints of metro workers emptying slurry from the construction sites into the drains, leading to blockage of the channels. The wires and cables of various utility agencies were dumped into the drains along the Deshabhimani-Pottakkuzhi road stretch, which could cause flooding in the region when the monsoon intensified, she said. The Metro officials were of the view that the wires and cables would be taken off the canals after service ducts were built along the drains, she said.

Delayed showers

Meanwhile, the delayed monsoon showers have come as a blessing for the civic authorities as it provided them ample time to complete the cleaning of small drains in city areas.

There were widespread apprehensions that the city may experience heavy inundation if the cleaning could not be completed on time. The authorities had lost precious time in completing the paper works for awarding the cleaning works to the contractors.

While conceding that the delayed monsoon gave them breathing space, Ms. Jain said most of the drains that ran through the interiors of the city were cleaned during the time. Efforts were taken to smoothen the flow of water through the major canals. Floating impurities including water hyacinths were removed from them using floating excavators, which would keep the city free of inundation when monsoon showers returned, she said.