THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The unexpected summer rain has made the city vulnerable to flooding, which is adversely affecting ongoing cleaning activities. Adding to the trouble are the tussles between various departments. The corporation is now at loggerheads with the Public Works Department (PWD) over the delay in carrying out pre-monsoon cleaning drives.
Recently, Mayor Arya Rajendran convened a meeting with various departments to review the progress of the pre-monsoon cleaning activities. According to sources, every department except the PWD and Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB) took part in the meeting and this irked the mayor.
The civic body has identified a total of 1,148 works as part of the cleaning drive. Of them, around 257 emergency works come under PWD’s jurisdiction. The departments concerned, including minor irrigation and major irrigation as well as the city corporation, have already started de-silting and cleaning canals, drains and other water bodies as part of the drive except for PWD.
“The entire drainage network is connected and the work by PWD is very crucial to mitigate flooding. The officials never attend review meetings which are essential for timely completion of the drive. This is the second time PWD has skipping review meetings since the launch of the cleaning drive. The mayor has decided to take it up with the chief minister and the PWD minister. She has decided to call another meeting this week,” said a senior official of the civic body. The official said flash floods continue to haunt the capital. “PWD officials cannot evade their responsibilities,” added the official.
According to official sources, PWD hasn’t planned any works as part of the pre-monsoon drive. A senior PWD official said the department is launching a `375-crore worth project in Kerala and the works would be awarded within two weeks. “We haven’t planned any pre-monsoon work. But the department is in the process of awarding a project on a running contract basis. We tried to tender the project once but had to go for a re-tender and a contractor would be roped in soon. The plan is to divide roads into clusters. The contractor would be responsible for maintaining the roads and drains for one or more years,” said an official with PWD.
The official said PWD couldn’t attend the review meeting called by the mayor as the official in charge was transferred and was unavailable. “We have handed over most of our roads coming in the city limits to Smart City Thiruvananthapuram Ltd and KRFB. It’s their responsibility to clean up the drains,” said the official.