THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Barely three-kilometres from the heart of the capital city lies Karimadom Colony. Around 7am, it began raining heavily. Getting inside the settlement area through a muddy, waterlogged road is a tedious task. Vineetha M prayed for the rain to stop. “If the downpour continues, drainage water will enter our houses. Just yesterday I cleaned the house which was flooded. Waterlogging is prevalent here throughout the year. The backyard of my house has been flooded with drainage water for the past three months,” she said.
Most of the city drains flow into the pond near Karimadom, which further joins Parvathy Puthanar. The residents regularly complain about the stench and rodent infestation. Children are frequently prone to diseases. Flats were built in the colony in three phases with the money utilised from various projects of the government. The final and fourth phase of the project is yet to be implemented. During rains, around two-feet of water enter the houses. Over 300 families are waiting for a better shelters to escape from the potential hazards of diseases.
Sixty-six-year-old Mohammad Rafi is paralysed and he stays with his wife. During a heavy downpour, he needs to be relocated to nearby flats in a chair. “When will we be getting our new flats?” asked Rafi whose wife is a cancer patient.
“We remain seated on our cots when the water level rises. When it does, we move to elevated areas in the colony. Other families provide us food. We are not provided with ration cards even if we have separate houses. When we asked the officials about ration cards, they told us that we would be provided them required only after we get new flats,” said Sunitha S, a resident.
As the path to their houses is waterlogged almost the entire year, the residents had requested the authorities concerned to allocate flats at the earliest or to raise the premises with more soil. “We met the mayor in person and gave written complaints. But it didn’t yield any positive results. The mayor is being praised for sending essentials to the flood-affected places. But he didn’t visit our colony that is flooded with drainage water yet,” said Sunitha.