more-in The extensive de-silting of the Thevara-Perandoor canal that runs through the city will begin this week. The civic administration will implement the ?16-crore work under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut) scheme. The project comes at a time when the civic body has drawn flak from the Kerala High Court for not effectively cleaning up the canal. While considering a writ petition, the court had directed the authorities to remove floating weeds from the canal. The petitioner in the case contended that the failure on the part of the civic administration to remove the weeds led to the flooding of P&T and Udaya colonies located on the banks of the canal. As a prelude to the implementation of the work, the water and silt levels in the canal were marked on Sunday. The silt level is marked to understand the depth to which it has to be removed. A team of officials of the civic body led by Mayor Soumini Jain started the work on the day. The markings need to be approved by the Central Technical Engineer for the actual removal of sediments to begin. Four segments The 7.8 km-long-stretch of the canal will be divided into four segments for the cleaning work. The strengthening of retaining walls and putting up of fences at open places would also be implemented as part of the work, said Ms. Jain. It was three years ago that extensive de-silting was carried out in the canal last. It had showed results as it carried away significant volumes of rain water and freed the city of floods for two consecutive years, she said. The Opposition councillors too had criticised the administration for failing to clean up the canal, which resulted in the flooding of the colonies. Responding to the criticism, Ms. Jain said the civic body had initiated the removal of floating weeds from the canal on two occasions. ‘Delay in getting nod’ There was some delay in obtaining permission for the Amrut project, which, in turn, delayed the execution of the work, she said. Since the canal cleaning was to be implemented under Amrut scheme, the civic body desisted from assigning the work, fearing objection from auditors, she added.

Stay updated with all the Latest Kochi headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.