Kerala flooding: Operation Anantha masterminds dejected

The project was launched in 2015 during the tenure of the second Oommen Chandy-led UDF government. The initiative resolved the infamous flooding that kept hitting the Thampanoor region.

Kerala has been witnessing heavy rains.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Recent reports of flooding in the city’s low-lying areas have left former Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson disappointed. Jiji, along with then Thiruvananthapuram district collector Biju Prabhakar, initiated Operation Anantha-1 in 2015 at a cost of Rs 60 crore to successfully rid the city of waterlogging following rain.

However, in the absence of follow-up from successive governments in the past eight years, the effects of the drive are now wearing off. The project was launched in 2015 during the tenure of the second Oommen Chandy-led UDF government. The initiative resolved the infamous flooding that kept hitting the Thampanoor region. Though Jiji and Biju, the architects behind the revolutionary project, repeatedly warned the authorities concerned to resume follow-up projects, nothing happened, much to their anguish.

“When we implemented the project in 2015, it showed results for four years. It had been a collective effort; besides me, the district administration led by Biju Prabhakar, the corporation as well as the public works, revenue, irrigation and minor irrigation departments took up the challenge. However, there has been no follow-up, and flooding is the end result,” Jiji said.

It was for the first time that a chief secretary handled the operation directly. Until then, the agencies concerned always indulged in blame game over the regular flooding. Nothing has changed on that front, though. The blame game continues as the agencies concerned, including the Kerala Road Fund Board, Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Project, district administration, Thiruvananthapuram corporation and the PWD, irrigation, minor irrigation, and revenue departments keep passing the buck on executing the second phase of the project.

“Just one agency should ensure free flow of the city’s drains, instead of multiple agencies,” Biju told TNIE. He attributed the recent waterlogging to the clogging of garbage in all drains including the Amayizhanchan canal.

“The culvert at Gandhari Amman Kovil Road–Manjalikulam is elevated which is not right. Water flowing from the Housing Board junction is shaped like a trough and to ensure flow, the drain has to be built at an elevated level too. Thing will move swiftly if a single agency is given charge,” said Biju, currently transport secretary and KSRTC CMD.

Meanwhile, the corporation is facing flak for failing to undertake pre-monsoon cleaning of the drains. In areas where local ward councillors did take initiative, garbage was dumped outside the drains, only to be washed into them again when it rained. Even areas that were not affected in the 2018 floods have witnessed waterlogging in the rains since.