THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Heavy summer rain that lashed the capital on Friday evening and left many low-lying areas inundated has raised several uncomfortable questions. Residents are worried that with another monsoon fast approaching interventions made by the city corporation to resolve urban flooding are proving to be inadequate.
Several corporations wards adjacent to national highways, including Muttathara, Manickavilakam, Puthenpally, Thiruvallam, and Vellar areas, have experienced severe waterlogging. Many departments including irrigation, inland waterways, PWD are yet to intensify pre-monsoon activities to reduce the state capital’s vulnerability to flooding.
Vellar ward councillor Panathura Baiju said the drainage network passing via the national highway from Thiruvallam to Vazhamoottam is heavily clogged and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is not taking steps to address the issue ahead of the monsoon.
“We attempted to clean up the drainage system but it’s difficult as the drains pass through the national highway and it is NHAI’s responsibility to clean up the stormwater drains on their roads,” he said. Baiju said that the drain network constructed between the service road and the national highway needs to be cleaned to address the issue.
“The sewage lines passing underneath the drains are damaged during construction and they need to be fixed,” he said. Recently, the Kerala State Human Rights Commission issued an order directing all concerned departments, including the corporation and the district disaster management authority, to take immediate steps to intensify pre-monsoon sanitation drive.
According to official sources, the corporation has issued a notice to NHAI to take immediate steps to unclog the canal network under its jurisdiction ahead of the monsoon.
“The mayor will be holding meetings with various departments immediately to speed up the pre-monsoon drive to mitigate the flooding faced by the capital,” an official with the civic body’s health wing said.
“Many low-lying areas were inundated in the rain yesterday. Fortunately the water receded as soon as the rain stopped.
The civic body launched the drive weeks ahead and all the drains under our jurisdiction have been cleaned. But unfortunately all the drains are interlinked and other departments should also step up,” said the official.
An NHAI official denied that the flooding was because of the drains. “We have running contracts for all the work and we will rectify the issue without any delay. We haven’t received any complaint regarding the flooding,” the official said.