Over 500 works as part of pre-monsoon cleaning in capital

Over 500 works related to cleaning up, desiltation and increasing the depth of canals and drains are being planned in Thiruvananthapuram city as part of the pre-monsoon clean-up activities by the Corporation, Irrigation department and the Public Works department.

While the Corporation’s sanitation workers will take care of a good number of the drains, the Minor and Major Irrigation departments will be handling most of the canals.

According to Corporation officials, the civic body has allocated ₹1.25 lakh per ward for cleaning of drains in the initial phase.

Intermittent cleaning

“This year, considering the possibilities of flooding during summer rain, we cleaned up the drains early in areas where water-logging usually happens. The Corporation has in recent years shifted from the old model of annual cleaning to intermittent cleaning in such areas to prevent flooding due to unseasonal rain. However, one of the main challenges is that even if we clean the drains, water-logging and flooding can be prevented only if waste from all the canals are removed, which is to be done by the Irrigation department,” said a Corporation official.

According to a Major Irrigation department official, work is currently ongoing in some of the major canals, while sanction is awaited for the proposals for some others.

“Cleaning and desilting work are currently ongoing for the Amayizhanjan canal, Ulloor canal and Pattom canal. But, funds are awaited for the Thekkenakara canal and the Parvathy Puthanar. For the Thettiyar canal, it has been decided to clean the portions which pass through the Technopark campus as part of joint effort with the park authorities. Cleaning up and widening has to be done on the canal, as constriction of the canal within the campus has led to flooding in the region in recent years,” said the Irrigation official.

Shutter bridge

A shutter bridge at Kannammoola, which has been the cause of flooding in these parts during heavy rain, was demolished as part of the Minor Irrigation department’s ongoing maintenance work in the Pattom canal. The large amount of waste that flows through the canal during rain used to get caught in the shutter bridge, causing floods in the area. The ongoing work in the Pattom canal, as part of ₹4.83 crore project in the 2021-22 State Budget is currently in the final stages.