A meeting convened by the district authorities and chaired by Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar here on Sunday at the District Collectorate recommended that storm water drains and canals should be desilted and made ready to discharge water efficiently and that efforts should be intensified to make relief available to the flood-affected.
The flooding of the apron area of the Cochin International Airport (CIAL) too came under consideration during the meeting and it was suggested that a permanent solution should be found for the flooding of the airport operations area, said a press release from the Public Relations Department (PRD).
Instructions would be issued to the CIAL authorities to address the issues relating to the flooding of the airport. Removing obstructions to water flow in Chengalthodu would help relieve the airport area of future flooding, the press release added.
The meeting considered the flooding of areas close to the national highway after the completion of the Kochi metro rail works. The meeting expressed the opinion that water drainage had been blocked and they should be cleared to allow storm water discharge efficiently.
The Minister issued instructions to convene a meeting of all government departments concerned to get the issues addressed without blaming anyone for the problems.
District Collector S. Suhas, Sub Collector Snehil Kumar Sing, Kochi City Deputy Police Commissioner G. Poonkuzhali and Assistant Collector M.S. Madhavikutty were among those who participated in the meeting.
Meanwhile, evaluation of the efforts to provide relief to the flood-affected continued.
Rain data
V.D. Satheesan, MLA, has said that the district administration should cooperate with the weather monitoring system available at the Cochin University of Science and Technology to make rain data and forecast available. He said efforts should be made to make available data from the 10 rain gauge stations.
A statement from the PRD also said that data should be provided in such a way that relief works could be launched effectively. According to the MLA’s evaluation, the operations of the relief camps as well as the Health Department works were satisfactory.
Waterlogging
V.K. Erbrahim Kunju, MLA, said around a hundred houses on both sides of the Aluva-Paravoor road were under water. He said the problem of waterlogging, related to the construction of the Kochi Metro Rail line, should be addressed immediately. The Irrigation and Public Works Departments should work together to solve the problem of waterlogging in the area. He said there was a serious problem of waterlogging at Panayikkulam near Alangad.
Anoop Jacob, MLA, said accurate information on the opening of shutters of dams should be made available. He said release of water from the Malankara dam affected the Piravom area and that rumours on social media had resulted in fear among people in the area.
K.J. Maxi, MLA, said relief operations in Kochi taluk were satisfactory and that the four relief camps on Vypeen island were working properly.
Antony John, MLA, said tribal villages in Kuttampuzha area continued to be isolated due to the flooding. He appealed to the district administration to pay special attention to the needs of the people in the area affected by the floods.
Farmers’ losses
Eldho Abraham, MLA, said farmers had suffered heavy losses in the rains and that crop insurance cover should be made available to the affected farmers. He called for studies on the conditions at Paingottoor, which witnessed landslips during the rain. MLAs P.T. Thomas, V.P. Sajeendran, Roji John and Anwar Sadath as well as Hibi Eden and Benny Behnanan, MPs, also spoke on the issues at hand as the flood situation was evaluated.
