KOCHI: When heavy rain lashed the state on Monday and Tuesday, most of the images flashing on TV channels were from Kochi. Visuals of vehicles trying to negotiate through inundated MG Road, High Court Junction and Menaka Junction and pedestrians struggling to walk on the roads were repeatedly telecast by news channels and promptly followed by newspapers the day after.
Those images reminded Thiruvananthapuram resdidents about similar frames from the city that used to appear in media until seven years ago. The flooding at Thampanoor that saw passengers wading through water with luggage on their heads and devotees going to Pazhavangadi Ganapthy temple struggling to negotiate the inundated main road were favourite ones of camera crew. Flash floods in Thampanoor and Pazhavangadi had remained a headache for governments and corporation till 2015. It was then that ‘Operation Anantha’ was launched.
The project was initially perceived by the sceptical media as another circus. A few years ago, the previous government had constituted a high-level committee led by the then water resources minister with a mandate to solve the crisis, but they too failed to resolve the issue. The panel had, however, identified a solution. Cleaning of storm water drains in the city and re-establishing connectivity of all drainage lines.
In 2015, then chief minister Oommen Chandy assigned two efficient bureaucrats who were known to think out of the box and walk the extra mile to achieve targets. Chief secretary Jiji Thomson and district collector Biju Prabhakar willingly took up the mission.
The path before them was thorny and blocked at every turn. To find funds, the government kept state disaster management authority also in the loop. The KSDMA had funds for preventing disasters and flooding was obviously a disaster.In the next two years, the city witnessed daily work on the project. Thirty kilometre canals and storm water drains in the city had been desilted and widened up to 3.5 metres. A large number of encroachments were evicted to implement the first phase.
The eviction of encroachments had led to cases often, but the district administration fought it determinedly and won most of them.The only case in which the administration had to surrender was that of a big hotelier who had challenged the bid to demolish part of his hotel at East Fort for widening an encroached drain by approaching the High Court and Supreme Court.
By 2016 end, the first phase was completed. Prabhakar had said only one-third of the work was over. The government had by then spent `32.5 crore. One of the most daunting tasks was to clean and desilt the 145-metre-long culvert that passed under the railway track in Thampanoor. Though everyone thought the task was impossible as the Railways was unwilling to allow digging up their premises. But it was achieved with the architects coming up with an innovative solution.
The flood mitigation measures under Operation Anantha were put to test on May 17, 2016 when Thiruvananthapuram city received 66.8mm rainfall. No water-logging was experienced at Thampanoor and the central bus stand. Amayizhanjan canal that passes beneath the Thiruvananthapuram Central railway station sucked in maximum water due to the cleaning works undertaken.
But the sad part is that the proposal for second phase is yet to get the government’s approval. The officials had warned that the respite is only temporary and if the remaining works are not completed, there will be flooding again. That has been proved time and again.
On Monday, Kochi Mayor M Anilkumar said areas connected to Mullassery Canal such as the South railway station, Kammattipadam and Kalathiparambil Road were the ones flooded. That emphasises the need for a massive storm water drain and canal cleaning project in Kochi too. The ongoing Operation Breakthrough project needs to be carried out more efficiently. The corporation should demonstrate an iron will to remove all hurdles on the way and ensure a proper room for floodwater. Or else, the frames of waterlogged Kochi will continue to dominate media whenever there is a spell of even modest rain in the city.