Fund crunch hinders Koch Corporation from taking up work to cover open drains

KOCHI: Mayor M Anilkumar has said that the corporation is running short of funds which makes it difficult to execute the work to cover open drains at a short notice. The civic body will make arrangements to erect temporary barricades to prevent mishaps, he said.

“For the time being, this is what the corporation is capable of doing. Laying slabs to cover drains quickly is not practically possible, and the corporation does not have enough funds to take up the work,” said Anilkumar.

He said that drains were not covered fully at certain places as per the instructions from irrigation department as it would be difficult to de-clog them during heavy rain. According to sources, the corporation is in a deep financial crisis which prevents it from implementing projects and executing urgent works.

“The government owes the corporation over Rs 150 crore. Despite several follow-ups with the finance minister, no steps have been taken to release the funds,” said the mayor.

“For any mishap in the city, the corporation is the first to be blamed. We accept that whatever happened to the boy shouldn’t have happened, but the corporation is not solely responsible. The irrigation department had requested that the drainage should not be covered with slab because it would be difficult to clean it once clogging occurs,” a source said.

According to K T Varghese, a resident of Panampilly Nagar, the corporation is trying to wash its hands of and put the blame on other agencies.

“The officials could have taken steps to cover the spot as they did on Saturday. I believe that it’s not their sole mistake, but they could have tried to avoid the accident,” he said.

In the wake of the incident in which a three-year-old boy fell into an open drain at Panampilly Nagar on Thursday evening, the civic body will bring out a list of open drains that pose a threat to pedestrians and prepare an estimate to construct barricades in all the divisions.

“Based on the quick survey conducted on Friday, we found that almost all divisions have at least one or two open drains. Over seven open drains were spotted in Panampilly Nagar itself,” said corporation secretary, Babu Abdul Khader.

 Meanwhile, on Saturday, the contractors who had executed various works in the corporation, held protests against non-payment of Rs 100 crore the civic body owes them. The tussle between the civic body and contractors has been ongoing for several months over non- payment of bills.

KOCHI: Mayor M Anilkumar has said that the corporation is running short of funds which makes it difficult to execute the work to cover open drains at a short notice. The civic body will make arrangements to erect temporary barricades to prevent mishaps, he said. “For the time being, this is what the corporation is capable of doing. Laying slabs to cover drains quickly is not practically possible, and the corporation does not have enough funds to take up the work,” said Anilkumar. He said that drains were not covered fully at certain places as per the instructions from irrigation department as it would be difficult to de-clog them during heavy rain. According to sources, the corporation is in a deep financial crisis which prevents it from implementing projects and executing urgent works. “The government owes the corporation over Rs 150 crore. Despite several follow-ups with the finance minister, no steps have been taken to release the funds,” said the mayor. “For any mishap in the city, the corporation is the first to be blamed. We accept that whatever happened to the boy shouldn’t have happened, but the corporation is not solely responsible. The irrigation department had requested that the drainage should not be covered with slab because it would be difficult to clean it once clogging occurs,” a source said. According to K T Varghese, a resident of Panampilly Nagar, the corporation is trying to wash its hands of and put the blame on other agencies. “The officials could have taken steps to cover the spot as they did on Saturday. I believe that it’s not their sole mistake, but they could have tried to avoid the accident,” he said. In the wake of the incident in which a three-year-old boy fell into an open drain at Panampilly Nagar on Thursday evening, the civic body will bring out a list of open drains that pose a threat to pedestrians and prepare an estimate to construct barricades in all the divisions. “Based on the quick survey conducted on Friday, we found that almost all divisions have at least one or two open drains. Over seven open drains were spotted in Panampilly Nagar itself,” said corporation secretary, Babu Abdul Khader.  Meanwhile, on Saturday, the contractors who had executed various works in the corporation, held protests against non-payment of Rs 100 crore the civic body owes them. The tussle between the civic body and contractors has been ongoing for several months over non- payment of bills.