KOCHI: Refuting the city corporation’s allegations of lack of coordination in implementing the Operation Breakthrough project, the Irrigation Department has said that encroachments and the concreting of the canal beds were the reasons for waterlogging in the city on July 29.
In a report submitted to chief engineer D Biju, Irrigation department executive engineer R Baji Chandran, who is also the chairman of the Operation Breakthrough technical committee, has listed out reasons for the waterlogging, pointing squarely at the flaws of the corporation.
“The city received 200mm rainfall from 1am to 9am on July 29. Though the rainfall was equal to that of October 21, 2019, when the whole city was inundated, the impact was lower this time. The water level in the lake rose by 80cm during high tide from 8.30am to 12.45am, which delayed draining of water. The water drained out by 2pm,” the report said.
Waterlogging was reported at the Ernakulam South railway station, KSRTC bus stand, Panampilly Nagar, Udaya Colony and P&T Colony. As many as 84 families were shifted to relief camps.These areas are located on the sides of the Thevara-Perandoor canal, which is being cleaned by the corporation for Rs 18 crore.
“We had cleaned 9km of Edappally canal, 4km of Changadampokku canal, 5km of Karanakodam canal, 2km of Chilavannoor canal mouth and 1.5km of Koithara canal. A bridge demolished by the Railways was lying at 1.5m depth in Koithara canal, which we removed. Around 15,000 cubic metres of silt were removed from the Thevara canal mouth, while 29,000 cubic metres of silt were removed from the Perandoor canal. The works were conducted based on flood zone mapping. All the works were completed within 21 days at an expense of Rs 9 crore,” the report said.
“The corporation reduced the width of Mullassery canal from 6m to 3m and concreted the canal bed to a distance of 400m, which led to the waterlogging at the bus stand and the South railway station. Draining of the water was blocked because the canal bed was raised by 2.5m. The project was implemented for Rs 5.1 crore. The concrete should be removed to ensure proper draining of floodwater. This will need Rs 2 crore more,” said a source with the Irrigation department.
“The width of the Changadampokku canal, which passes through Kaloor stadium and the KSEB substation, was reduced from 15m to 4m. The width was further reduced to 1.8m and covered with concrete slabs on the substation premises, which led to the flooding there. The canal width shrinks to 1.5m beyond the KSEB premises and there is rampant encroachments on the Changadampokku canal in this area,” the report said.
According to the department, the bed of the canal was concreted under the Amrut Scheme which raised the canal bed by 30cm.
“The corporation covered the canal with concrete slabs to develop a road in this area. As many as 16 points along the 3.7km stretch of the Changadam canal witnessed flooding in 2019. But no flooding was reported here this time as the stretch connecting Perandoor canal was cleaned. There were 21 link canals from the Atlantis Hotel to Vaduthala which were encroached upon and closed. The canal that drained the water from the South railway station to the lake was also blocked at Chittoor Road and MG Road,” said the report.
The report further stated that the time-bound actions taken by the Irrigation department within a short span in a cost-effective manner amid the Covid-19 pandemic saved Kochi from flooding this year.
The department used state-of-the-art technical backup with the Geo-Informatics System for implementing the project, the report added.