Thrissur corp watches as pond becomes waste yard
The RTI documents further says officials made a proposal of another Rs 10.3 crore to clean the pond in January 2018.
Thrissur: A pond used to be the source of a drinking water project and spread across more than an acre situated behind Ollukkara zonal office of Thrissur corporation is slowly turning to a plot with huge amounts of weeds and shrubs growing around it.
The documents of the Thrissur Corporation received through RTI applications reveal that in the civic body had spent Rs 8.6 lakhs March 2016 to renovate and clean the Aanakkulam pond. But, after five months, the pond was seen fully filled with weeds and hyacinths.
“In July 2016, we took up the matter with the corporation and the superintendent of works wing gave us in writing that it was common for the water bodies to get filled with weeds after cleaning and that the civic body would set up a committee to take care of it. That means, nearly Rs 10 lakhs of the civic body was wasted,” RTI activist P.B. Satheehs of Mulayam near Mannuthy who took up the matter with corporation, said.
He said two boats which were bought by the civic body for boating in the pond after its renovation and cleaning were now used as waste bins in the nearby park.
The RTI documents further says officials made a proposal of another Rs 10.3 crore to clean the pond in January 2018 but none of the contractors expressed interest in this proposal.