KOCHI: In the wake of Monday’s flooding in the city, the district administration has decided to constitute a Monsoon Calamity Monitoring Cell (MCMC) at the civil station to mitigate the monsoon calamities.
A decision in this regard was taken during an emergency meeting convened by District Collector K Mohammed Y Safirulla at his chamber late on Tuesday with other stakeholders such as Kochi Corporation, Metro Rail, Railways, PWD, GCDA, NHAI, Port Trust and Irrigation.
The cell will function round-the-clock under the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) and will coordinate between various agencies in the wake of natural calamities in the district, especially during monsoon.
“I have directed all stakeholders to work as a team to prevent incidents of waterlogging in the district. We have identified the areas prone to flooding during heavy rain. The agencies will start cleaning and de-clogging of drains/canals in these areas and will complete the task within four to five days,” said the Collector. He said the MCMC would work as mediator between the public and the agencies.
“We have also launched a WhatsApp number (9061518888) and an email (monsoonekm@gmail.com) for the public to inform us about natural calamities. Upon receiving the message, the district administration will forward it to the departments concerned for immediate action. We hope the issue can be resolved within a week,” said Safirulla.
Contractors’ indefinite strike
The Corporation’s efforts to clean the drains and canals on a war footing got a severe jolt with the City Corporation Contractors’ Association deciding to go on an indefinite strike from Tuesday.
The strike is in protest against the delay in clearing the bill dues pending since August 2015. The contractors have informed the civic body the cleaning of the drains will begin only after the arrears are cleared. According to them, the Corporation owes around Rs 50 crore to more than 200 contractors since 2015.
“All these years, we have been pleading before the Corporation to clear the arrears, but to no effect. By March-end every year, a certain amount used to be paid to the contractors. But this year, the Corporation has not paid anything to the contractors. If it fails to clear the arrears, we will not undertake further work in the city. We are not ready for any settlement other than full payment of the dues,” said an association member.
Meanwhile, the Corporation is planning to entrust the cleaning work with daily wage labourers, instead of clearing the arrears of contractors. According to the Corporation, the work to clean the culverts and drains started from Tuesday. “There are 22 major culverts in the city, which need to be cleared first. We have started the drainage cleaning at the North Railway Station area. If these 22 culverts are not cleaned, water will not flow into the Thevara-Perandoor canal, resulting in flooding,” said Mayor Soumini Jain.
The Mayor said a conciliatory meeting would be held with the contractors on Wednesday. The Corporation Works Committee chairman P M Harris said the demand of the contractors was justifiable. “It is unfortunate they called an indefinite strike at a time when emergency work has to be completed. We have requested them to desist from the strike,” Harris said.
CPM protest
The CPM district committee has decided to launch protests against the lackadaisical approach of the Corporation in tackling the waterlogging issues. It will take out a protest march to the Corporation office on Thursday seeking the Mayor’s resignation.