KOCHI: The Panampilly Nagar Welfare Association is planning a peaceful protest to bring the issue of frequent flooding of the locality to the notice of the authorities concerned. The residents are planning to hold a half-hour protest rally in Central Park, Panampilly Nagar, at 4.30 pm on Saturday. They will be collecting and submitting signatures, along with an official request to the MLA, MPs, Port Trust and the Corporation.
Highlighting the issue, the association said, “The residents are facing waterlogging every year with water entering nearly all the houses for the past few years. We want the office of the Kochi Corporation and the Cochin Port Trust to take corrective measures to help solve the issue.”
Though the corporation councillors are doing a good job by cleaning the drain before the rain, the issue is with the main drain into which all small drains merge, the association said. The Perandoor Canal has been serving the coastal city for a long time. “However, we have not maintained it well. The silt inside the canal has been left there for decades now and it today has an effective depth of just about 1 foot during low tide,” said the association.
“All we want is de-silting the canal to make it 5 ft deep during low tide, from Kadavanthra to Thevara Canal. Once it is done, the canal will have a holding capacity of 50,000 cubic metres and it can drain out water at a faster rate,” said the association.