The woes of the city residents have multiplied with the monsoon strengthening. Over the last one week, low-lying areas and other parts of the city too have been remaining water-logged following the rains. Strangely, this happens every year, despite several pre-monsoon preparations carried out by the City Corporation and other agencies. The meetings held at different levels in May on tackling the monsoon have hardly produced the desired results.
According to the local people, the problem with the pre-monsoon action plans was that they were launched too late to be fully completed on time. The works were started only in May, leaving little time for basic issues like cleaning of all the drains and clearing of the wastes.
In some areas, stagnated water from overflowing sewers has reached knee-high levels, causing severe hardship to people. The residents in the city allege that, ‘’as every year, this time too we had made endless calls to civic control rooms to clear the drains. More than the water-logging, it is the open drains and the waste dumped that are causing hardship to the people, especially children.’’
In many cases, people often illegally release waste water into canals or other water bodies, polluting them.
Some of the local councillors said that the pre-monsoon action plan remains on paper every year and the drain-cleaning efforts are not often completed by the agencies before the arrival of the monsoon rains.
Jameela, a resident of East Fort, says that water-logging takes place in her area for two to three hours even after a small shower. As a result, the children often have to miss school. This is not only the problem of a single day but of several years.
With the arrival of the monsoon, the situation in the coastal areas has also turned worse with more houses being washed away by the sea.
More people are being shifted to relief camps as their houses are partially damaged. The rainy season is an endless nightmare for the people here.
As per reports from officials engaged in disaster management on Thursday, two houses at Neyyatinkara were partially damaged. “No other damage or calamity was reported,” said Chandrika, an official.