HC directs Collector’s panel to oversee canal and drainage systems in Kochi

The Kerala High Court has ordered a committee headed by the District Collector to oversee the canal and drainage systems in Kochi.

A high-level committee had been entrusted with the task earlier. The court noted that the overall situation had improved following its intervention, and that the Collector’s committee was required to systematically pursue the effort on a consistent basis. The court observed that several fundamental problems continued to fester, including the delay in Mullassery canal works. The reconstruction of railway culverts and drainage mapping of the city too are yet to begin. Local bodies and the police must, in addition, maintain vigil against dumping of septic tank and other waste into canals and drains.

Elaborating on the mandate before the Collector’s committee, a Bench of Justice Devan Ramachandran said that it ought to ensure the completion of the construction of the Mullassery Canal under Operation Breakthrough Phase – III and that of culverts by the Railways. It must also continuously monitor Kochi’s canal and drainage systems and their cleaning with specific reference to hot spots like the slaughterhouse at Kaloor and the reconstruction of railway culverts. The dredging of the Perandoor Canal must be done well in advance every year.

The committee must also set a ‘cleaning calendar’ of canals, particularly of the Perandoor Canal by the Irrigation department. It must, in addition, take steps, through scientific methods and relevant inputs, to create a drainage map of the city, with recommendations to improve it in due course, without any delay. Deliberations in this regard must commence forthwith, and action taken on it must be made available to the court through periodic reports of the amici curiae.