Thiruvananthapuram: The capital’s famed Operation Anantha may have been emulated at Ottappalam, but the flood mitigation efforts in the city have lost steam after a change of government and an event-free monsoon. Putting a last nail in the coffin, collector Biju Prabhakar also demitted office on Friday. The entire bureaucratic team that led Anantha under former chief secretary Jiji Thompson has changed and the continuity of Anantha has been broken.
During extensive studies made under Anantha, the core reason for flooding was found to be the lack of a single agency to clean all stormwater drains. The next stage was to form a body to oversee drains that are presently managed by PWD, KRFB, Irrigation and City Corporation. Kadakampally Surendran, the guardian minister of the capital, feels that flood mitigation operation must continue even though little is happening on the ground.
“We have not given a thought about what to do with Anantha. We will convene a meeting to see its future. During the project, we had our reservations on the way it was carried out. So changes are imminent,” Mr Surendran told this newspaper. The works to create two break water structures worth Rs 27 crore at Veli is progressing and it is at least 2 years from completion, said irrigation department officials.
At present, the water recedence rate is slow as there is just a 2-metre difference in elevation between Thampanoor and Parvati Puthanar. So, during the second phase of operation Anantha, underground stormwater collection tanks will be constructed in all government establishments from Secret-ariat to Thampanoor. However, no deadline has been set to start or finish these works which do not find a mention even in the state budget.
