A day after the city Corporation released a notice it had issued on June 19 demanding the Railway authorities to clean the section of the Amayizhanjan canal that passes through the Railway premises, another order of a similar nature issued by District Collector Geromic George on May 29 also came out in the public sphere.
As per the order issued by the Collector, in his capacity as the Chairperson of the District Disaster Management Authority, invoking the provisions of the Disaster Management Act 2005, the Railway authorities must take immediate action to remove the debris and waste substances obstructing the proper flow of the canal that passes through the railway tunnel at Thampanoor.
After a sanitation worker went missing inside the canal on Saturday, the Corporation authorities have accused the Railway authorities of being lax in cleaning the section of the canal that passes through Railway property. According to the Corporation, its sanitation workers were not allowed inside railway property due to which it had demanded the Railway to carry out the work on its own.
A notice issued by the Corporation to the regional manager, Southern Railway division on June 19 says that work on the canal under the Major Irrigation department remains pending at the section which passes under the rails, near the Parcel office and near the Power House Road.
The Railway authorities have maintained that it has never stopped any Corporation worker from carrying out their work inside the railway premises. M.R. Viji, the Additional Divisional Railway Manager, Southern Railway, who spoke to media persons on Sunday said that the Corporation used to carry out the work earlier, but over the past two years had requested the Railway to do it.
