The district administration is looking at winding up the temporary storage hubs opened for flood relief in the city. An imminent shortage of volunteers at these centres has compelled authorities to pursue alternative arrangements.
The participation of college students is expected to wane further with the reopening of engineering colleges on Monday. “We will have to pursue a new strategy under the present circumstances. Thiruvananthapuram will function as the transit point from here on. While we have been undertaking temporary storage, segregation and dispatch of relief goods, we will send these items as we receive them, possibly from Monday,” District Collector K. Vasuki said.
Nevertheless, the storage hubs were buzzing with activity on Saturday with roughly 200 volunteers each being deployed to the facilities. Around 20 personnel attached to the CRPF were also deployed to the temporary centre functioning at the basement parking of the Jawahar Sahakarana Bhavan. Techies also played a role in sorting the relief goods. P.R. Vishnu, who has been coordinating the volunteers, said around 50 volunteers were stationed at the Thiruvananthapuram Central and Kochuveli railway stations in anticipation of wagons containing relief goods. R. Gopakumar, a revenue official, said unloading workers were engaged to expedite steps to clear loads that had accumulated at the railway stations. A total of 21 loads had been shifted from the Kochuveli railway station alone on Friday. While a storage facility functioned at the All Saints College, only one load remained on the premises. The inflow of relief goods through the domestic terminal of the airport has also dried up.
