Thettiyar cleaning drive from today

Thiruvananthapuram: The city corporation will launch the drive to clean the polluted Thettiyar stream from Tuesday. In the first phase, the stretch from Vetturoad to Technopark Gate will be cleaned.
The employees of Ayyankali urban employment guarantee scheme will clean the stretch, which involves the removal of plastic waste and vegetation from the stream. The works such as clearing off encroachment will not be held this time.

Mayor V K Prasanth said that only cleaning works till Technopark would be done now. “The portion of stream inside Technopark will be taken up later,” he said. The mayor said that if they notice sewage connectivity to the stream during cleaning, it will be plugged,” he said. The corporation health wing will use its vehicles and private equipment to clean the stream.

A month ago, the city corporation had served notices to all hostels, houses and institutions to stop diverting sewage to the Thettiyar stream. Recently, a team of officials including district collector K Vasuki had conducted an inspection of the affected areas in Kazhakkoottam.

The revival of Thettiyar became a topic of discussion after a citizen collective, Thettiyar Sahajeevan Swaraj, pointed out issues of pollution. A team for the revival of Thettiyar was formed by tourism minister Kadakampally Surendran last year. He had also sought the support of CEOs in Technopark for the cleaning driver. However, the project lost steam after a point of time.

The mayor said that clearing of encroachments and cleaning of the entire stretch of Thettiyar would be taken up in the coming phases. TNN