Yet another attempt will be made to revive the Karimadom pond, which was at one time crucial as a flood control mechanism over a large area, under the city Corporation's Smart City project.
A ₹5 crore project is being envisaged to remove all the waste that has been dumped in the pond over the years and to revive the pond. The area around the pond is also proposed to be beautified as part of the project.
“Some rounds of discussions have already been held with top officials of the Kerala Water Authority and the Urban Affairs Department. The Minor Irrigation Department is also learnt to have proposed a project with similar aims. These two projects will be merged to work towards a common goal. The technical details of the project proposal has to be vetted, before we can go ahead with it,” said an official of the Corporation’s Smart City project.
The Karimadom pond, spread over an area of 1.8 acres, is connected to a network of drains, which are part of the pre-independence era drainage network in the capital. Drains from the Chala area flow into the pond, while the outflow from the pond drains into the Killi River through the Kuriathi Canal. The interconnected network of drains and larger water bodies like the Karimadom pond used to prevent the flooding of East Fort and surrounding areas in the earlier days.
However, with constant dumping of waste and the growth of invasive species, the pond has almost ceased to exist. One of the major attempts to clean it was made during the implementation of the Operation Anantha flood mitigation drive in 2015.
However, the constant sewage flows from various sides and the large amount of accumulated waste prevented the drive from being successful.
Three years later, an NGO teamed up with the Suchitwa Mission to remove the plastic waste accumulated on top. Though this endeavour was somewhat successful, much more needs to be done to revive the pond.