The Kerala High Court on Thursday directed the District Collector and the Kochi Corporation Secretary to file independent reports explaining as to why a large-scale inundation took place during the heavy rain on July 29 in the city, especially at Panampilly Nagar, Stadium Link Road, Kaloor, and M.G. Road.

Justice Devan Ramachandran issued the directive after taking up a pending case on flooding in the city.

The court observed that on every occasion when the case had come up for hearing, the district administration and the Kochi Corporation had maintained that effective and necessary steps had been taken to tackle inundation in the city. However, experience proved otherwise, and, therefore, the court had reason to suspect that something was wrong somewhere.

P&T Colony

The court also directed the government pleader to inform it of the fate of the Government Order on shifting residents of P&T Colony to the land in Rameswaram village owned by the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) by including it in the Life Mission Project.

“It was brought to the notice of the court that though the order was issued in 2018, nothing concrete had been done so far,” the court said.

The court pointed out that the inundation of the colony bared the pathetic state of its residents. “Not merely were they bombarded with water, but they were under fear of COVID-19 spread,” it observed.

The district administration submitted that waterlogging occurred because of the faulty gradient of the Mullassery canal bed, constructed by the corporation years ago. The flow of water to the Perandoor canal was now totally obstructed on account of the railway line as well.

News reports

The court pointed out that news reports in 2018 had quoted the principal adviser to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) as saying that unless the slope of the Mullassery canal from Vivekananda Road area was altered towards the west, waterlogging could never be solved, as water from the canal could not be allowed to flow into the Perandoor canal.

The irony was that no steps had been taken by any authority for the last two years, though under Operation Breakthrough, the district administration had described it as a necessary work, the court observed.

The executive engineer attached to Operation Breakthrough had also earlier conceded before the court that the rectification work should be done, and that it could be carried out only after the monsoon.

Rectifying the slope of the Mullassery canal will have to be done on a war footing. If the corporation is not prepared to carry out the work, the District Collector could get it done by invoking the provisions of the Disaster Management Act, the court said. The report of the Collector and the corporation should mention the proposals for the work, the court ordered. The case was posted to August 4 for further hearing.