KOCHI: Though Kochi corporation initiated its pre-monsoon cleaning activities early this year, lack of coordination between departments has delayed the work, posing the threat of waterlogging in the city.
The situation is worryingly dire, with the southwest monsoon having made early landfall. On Sunday, district collector N S K Umesh visited National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) work locations and directed the authority, railways, and other departments to complete the dredging of canals and drains.
“The public works department had been entrusted with cleaning the drains in MG Road, Banerjee Road and Shanmugham Road. That work is yet to be completed. In the 2025-26 budget, `10 crore was allocated for Operation Breakthrough. The amount has not been utilised. Moreover, the water authority is yet to remove the old pipes obstructing water flow,” said Manoj Kumar, president of the Merchants Chamber of Commerce.
Areas such as Panampilly Nagar, BRM Nagar, Vasanth Nagar, and other areas experienced waterlogging in the past few days.
Seena Gokul, chairperson of the public works committee, said pre-monsoon cleaning activities were started early this time, but were delayed due to several reasons.
“We had instances of contractors abandoning work, besides other issues. We have completed desilting and dredging of most of the canals using the suction-cum-jetting machine,” she said. On Friday, the Kerala High Court observed that only 30-50% of the pre-monsoon activities had been completed.