Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Curbs on housing projects to check flooding

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, APRIL 12. The city corporation council today decided to impose restrictions on housing projects to check obstruction of drains and canals providing storm-water drainage for low-lying areas.

Presiding over a meeting of the council, the Mayor, J. Chandra, said the Department of Town Planning would be instructed to issue building permits only after ensuring that the new houses would not block drainage facilities.

She was intervening in a debate following an adjournment motion on water-logging in the Chengalloor ward. Moving the motion, the ward councillor and leader of the United Democratic Front in the council, K. Maheswaran Nair, said flooding was caused by blocked drainage outlets.

The Mayor observed that many low-lying areas were flooded during rain.

"In most cases, the problem can be traced to houses constructed on reclaimed paddy fields. There have also been instances in which houses are built over drains and canals," she said.

The Mayor assured the council that the issue would be brought to the attention of the State Government. During the discussion, many councillors said canals and drains were polluted with sewage.

`Rebuild culvert'

The meeting urged the Public Works Department and the Thiruvananthapuram Development Authority (Trida) to reconstruct a culvert on the Anamugham-Poonthi road. An adjournment motion moved by the Anamugham ward councillor, Kadakampally Mohanan, noted that the blocked culvert was threatening to flood several houses in the Aakulam, Anamugham and Medical College wards.

Mr. Mohanan said the development of the Poonthi road under the City Roads Improvement Scheme would be a wasteful expenditure unless the culvert was rebuilt.

Aid sought

The council appealed to the District Collector to compensate the families in the Thiruvallam and Pachalloor wards who lost their houses in the floods caused by heavy rain on April 4. Moving an adjournment motion, the Pachalloor councillor, M. Sreekumari, said floodwaters backing up from the sand bar at Panathura had destroyed 50 houses and damaged 40.

She said the damage had left the residents in thickly populated area helpless. The resolution urged the Collector to release financial assistance for their families to rebuild their houses.

Corruption alleged

The meeting appealed to the Government and the Kerala State Electricity Board to resolve the acute staff shortage in electrical section offices and crack down on corruption among Board officials. A resolution moved by the Ambalathara councillor, Poonthura Siraj, said the Manacaud section office was plagued by paucity of staff. Several councillors pointed out that the situation was no different in other section offices. They alleged that officials were demanding bribes for maintenance and new connections.

Replying to a question, the Mayor said officials would be instructed to install an information board announcing the rates for cremation at the Thycaud crematorium before April 30.

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