The ongoing Operation ‘Anantha’ aimed at flood mitigation in East Fort and Thampanoor will take another year to be complete and will end up costing the exchequer at least Rs. 60 crore.
The cleaning and refurbishment of the Kariyilathodu would by itself take up a bulk of this time, Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson said here on Tuesday.
He was speaking at a meet-the-press programme organised by the Press Club here.
When ‘Operation Anantha’ was initiated nobody knew that the Kariyilathodu was 5.2-km long.
Engineers supervising the cleaning of the canals had no idea how many canals were there and their locations.
Old documents
It was from 1939-vintage government documents sourced from the government archives the detailed maps of these canals of the city were obtained. From those documents it became clear that there were at one time 10 flood-mitigation tanks in the city.
The railways have assured the government that they would construct another canal beneath the railway station to ease the flow of flood waters, he said.
All canals in the city need to be cleaned, and their sidewalls refurbished.
Wire mesh needs to be installed all along the canals’ route.
Moreover, deterrent punitive measures need to be put in place to deal with those who persist in throwing garbage into the canals.
A breakwater needs to be constructed at Veli.
This alone would cost at least Rs. 25 crore, he said. Kerala should emulate the Tamil Nadu example of setting of rainwater soak pits (Mazhakkuzhi) in all houses. This by itself would go a long way in controlling floods
Modern junkyard
A project to set up a modern junkyard with assistance from the Metal Scrap Trading Corporation is in the anvil. The Corporation had wanted 15 acres of land near a railway line or a port to set up such a facility.
The government has identified land at Vizhinjam for this.
The proposed facility would also aid the city in disposing off its ‘white scrap’ such as refrigerators and mobile phones, he said.
Railways to build another canal beneath station
Breakwater needs to be constructed at Veli
