Though the Corporation authorities claim that they have completed the pre-monsoon canal cleaning work successfully, a majority of the Opposition councillors alleged that the work of many big drains were done haphazardly. They were done in a hurry at the last minute and unexpected showers hampered the work. They said that though the small drains in most of the divisions were cleaned earlier, the work of the big drains were started very late and many are yet to be de-silted.
“What the city needs is a proper plan for the cleaning of drains. The present system causes a lot of delay. The work estimate is usually made by the end of March or April and the desilting work commences by May. The problem of the present system is that the work commences in such a way that when it reaches its final stages, monsoon sets in invariably,” said Opposition councillor M P Maheshkumar.
He said that when it rains, the canals are filled with silt and waste materials again. Moreover, in many areas the silt is heaped on the the sides. “When we demand for cleaning of canals again in September or October, the officials concerned will come up with the excuse that new work can be taken up only six months after the previous work was done and they drag the work to next year. By then the condition of the drains would have worsened,” alleged Maheshkumar.
Meanwhile, experts said there were no such regulation that prevented the civic body from cleaning the canals biannually. “Even if there is a six-month regulation, they can organise the launch of pre-monsoon cleaning by taking estimates by January every year. If they can complete the work in a systematic manner by March or April, the canals can be cleaned again in October and November. This will help in resolving the issue,” experts said.
Meanwhile, Opposition councillor N A Shafeek said that in the majority of the divisions, the residents have raised complaints against the delay in removing silt and debris from roadside. “During the cleaning of canals and drains, especially big drains, the workers dump the silt removed from the canals on the sides. The piled up silt causes hurdles for motorists and pedestrians and spread across the road and returns to the drain when it rains,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Works Standing Committee chairperson Soumini Jain said that the civic body had already spent nearly `5.5 crore for the cleaning of canals and drains. However, she said that the delay in commencing the cleaning of big canals was caused by the decision for re-tendering it. Initially, the Corporation floated a tender for removing weeds from the canals.
But the councillors strongly demanded at the Council meeting that the big drains should also be desilted along with the removal of weeds. Hence the Corporation re-tendered the work which caused the delay.