Lazy corporation blames punctual monsoon

KOCHI: It seems that the efforts by the Corporation to ward off severe water-logging in the city stand thwarted, owing to the inordinate delay in the completion of the precautionary measures before the onset of monsoon.
The canal desilting work that began a few days ago has been stuck up with the timely arrival of monsoon. The scooped-up silt was not removed before the onset of monsoon and this has aggravated the problem.
"The cleaning of the canal was supposed to be completed by the end of May. The silt that has been accumulated on the fringes of the roads has already caused trouble to pedestrians. This scooped-up silt has reentered the canal which has destroyed the whole purpose of desilting," Elamakkara councillor Anil Kumar said.
He also alleged that the present council has not taken any steps to proceed with the procedures that were almost completed by the previous council.
"We have taken painstaking efforts to complete the procedures to clean the drains. The plans devised under the Esteem project have gone awry. This council did nothing but sitting on it," he said.
On the status of the ongoing drain works, Works Committee Chairperson Soumini Jain said, "We tried our level best to complete them on time. But it was all spoiled with the timely arrival of monsoon. Besides, the election code of conduct was another factor."
It is learnt that there are 18 projects to construct adequate drains only in the Central zone. Only four have been completed so far.
The construction of a major drain from MG Road to Flower Junction a month ago has completed its first phase. "As this drain passes through the Market Road, which is a busy area, we are rethinking on the plan," she said.

published in The NEW INDIAN EXPRESS