The Kerala High Court on Thursday directed the Kochi Corporation to ensure that all the drains in the city were kept clean and do the cleaning every three or four months.
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Justice Devan Ramachandran also directed the Corporation to file a periodic report before the court after the cleaning was done.
Waste dumping
The court directed the police and the corporation to ensure that there was no dumping of waste into the drainage system by anyone including commercial establishments, hotels, residential houses, and complexes. A continuous vigil should be maintained in this regard.
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The court ordered the District Police Chief (Kochi city) to take action against the dumping of septic waste on roads by vehicles. A video circulating on social media showing a lorry releasing septic waste through its valve had been brought to the notice of the court.
The Corporation counsel submitted that night squads had been constituted to prevent the dumping of waste in public places and stringent action would be taken against those who dump waste in public places.
The court said that the police must keep a watch on this and give every assistance to the squads of the corporation.
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The court directed the civic body to ensure that the removal of waste from various parts of the city was streamlined and effectively implemented. The District Collector in her capacity as the head of the Disaster Management Authority would oversee this and file a report before the court.
The court also ordered that gratings and other installations over holes on roads intended for the flow of water into drains shall be reinstalled and repaired by the agencies in charge of roads including the Corporation and Cochin Smart Missions Limited. The court also directed the District Police Chief (Kochi city) to ensure that gratings were well-protected through appropriate measures.
The directives were issued when cases relating to the prevention of flooding of city roads came up for hearing.