KOCHI: It is almost noon, and 75-year-old Thankamma Subrahmanian is busy cleaning the slush that flowed into the courtyard of her small house in Thanthonni Thuruthu from the backwaters. “I feel I will end up cleaning the slush and waste that pile up from the backwaters all my life,” Thankamma told TNIE on Wednesday. “Every day, my daughter-in-law and I spend most of our morning removing the slush.”
She said they previously had to deal with the ebb and flow of the Kochi backwaters only during the Malayalam month of Vrischikam (which overlaps November and December).
“Ever since the 2018 and 2019 floods, water has been entering our premises almost every day, and during Vrischikam, it flows right into the house,” she said, tears rolling down her cheeks as she held tight her six-month-old grandson, Riyan.
Like Thankamma, all 64 residents on the island are eagerly awaiting permission to construct an outer bund around the island in the Kochi backwaters.
“All we request is the outer bund. We feel embarrassed and are clueless why the authorities are not taking a positive stand. I’m 85 and I came here after marriage some 65 years back. I wake up seeing the sky-high buildings in Ernakulam. I wonder if the rules are different for them,” said Padma. She could not remove the slush from her courtyard as it was a hot day.
Meanwhile, the Kochi corporation and the Goshree Islands Development Authority (GIDA) are keeping their fingers crossed as a decision on constructing a five-metre-wide outer bund encompassing Thanthonni Thuruthu is expected by the end of November.
Sources with GIDA said they have answered all queries raised by the Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority (KCZMA) and are expecting a positive response. The KCZMA had earlier appointed a committee to look into Kochi corporation’s plea regarding the bund.
The clearance is necessary as the island falls within the Coastal Regulation Zone norms. “The presence of mangroves and the tide-influenced water body made CRZ clearance mandatory for the project,” an official said. Once the clearance is received, GIDA is prepared to construct the outer bund at an estimated cost of `6 crore. The bund will be constructed using dredged up materials and red earth will be deposited to fill it up to a height of 60 cm, said the source.
