Waterlogging: Mullassery canal slope to be corrected

KOCHI:  If all goes as per the plan, the water logging near the KSRTC bus stand will soon be a thing of the past as Delhi Metro Rail Corporation principal advisor E Sreedharan has instructed the civic body to remove the slope of Mullassery canal near the KSRTC bus stand. Sreedharan gave the instruction while visiting the Mullassery canal along with Mayor Soumini Jain. The canal is being cleaned with the technical support of DMRC. 

The pre-monsoon cleaning is being carried out with the support of the NGO - Foundation for Restoration of National Values – headed by him.“If the slope is corrected, water will easily flow to the backwaters through MG Road which will permanently resolve the water logging at the railway station, KSRTC bus stand and Karikkamuri areas,” said Sreedharan.

At present, the water drained by the ‘Pettiyum Parayum’ installed near Salim Rajan railway overbridge is reaching the Thevara-Perandoor Canal which is unable to contain it and often results in flooding. 
The cleaning and the requirement of high capacity jet pumps to replace the traditional system of ‘Pettiyum Parayum’ the estimated cost is Rs 1 crore.

The concrete waste accumulation has made the cleaning of canal a laborious task. 
The Mayor said the channel near the railway station premises is a major reason for flooding in the area, as it often gets clogged due to the unrestrained dumping of plastic waste. “The culvert area that has been intensively de-silted last week got blocked with plastic bottles and waste within a couple of days,” she said. “Therefore, as Sreedharan instructed, if the slope of the canal is changed, additional water from the pumping equipment will easily flow to the backwaters,” she added.