The district administration started the demolition of unauthorised structures in the Pazhavangady area as part of its flood-prevention activities. The structures were blocking drains in the region. Among these were two heavy-duty generators of a textile shop, some houses, and extension of a few shops.
The eviction drive, led by District Collector Biju Prabhakar and City Police Commissioner H. Venkatesh, started at 6 a.m. With notices being issued on May 1 and the Disaster Management Act being in force, no one put up any resistance to the evictions.
The actions were centred on the canal which starts from the Pazhavangady Ganapathi temple, passes behind the District Homoeo Hospital, underneath the slabs in front of the Abhedashram, parallel to the Padmatheertham pond, before draining into Pavathi Puthanar at the Vazhapally junction. Over the years, many had set up shops over the slabs along the length of the canal, preventing any clean-up operations. During Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson’s visit to the area on Thursday, this was found to be one of the reasons for the recurring floods in Pazhavangady.
The officials razed down the three houses and extensions of a few shops. They also removed the generators installed by a textile shop. A few other rooms and staff quarters constructed by the shop-owners here were also pulled down. Work on digging up space for drains in the cleared up areas has started.
Mr. Thomson, who visited the site, said the short-term work on flood prevention, of building drains in the cleared-up areas, will be completed by May 31, ahead of the onset of the monsoon.
