By Express News Service THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has called a high-level meeting on Friday in Thiruvananthapuram to discuss about a permanent solution to prevent waterlogging in Kochi city. Ernakulam district collector S Suhas, Kochi Mayor Soumini Jain and other officers in departments concerned will participate in the meeting. The decision to call a meeting was taken at the cabinet meet on Wednesday. Earlier, Vijayan immediately intervened in the matter and instructed the district administration to drain the water in the city on Monday night. The district administration has also launched a drive titled ' Operation Breakthrough'. However, the High Court criticized the civic authorities to come with a permanent solution to prevent the water-logging in the city following heavy rain. ALSO READ: What led to waterlogging of Kochi city? The unprecedented waterlogging on Monday also triggered the opposition of Kochi corporation to demand the resignation of Soumini Jain. Opposition leader K J Antony said the Mayor must quit owning responsibility for the waterlogging in the city. He also said the Kerala High Court’s remarks against the Kochi corporation have to be considered seriously. However, Mayor refuted the allegations. She said the heavy rain along with the hide tide and plastic waste caused waterlogging in the city. On Monday, Kochi woke up to a deluge with incessant rain that lashed the city since Sunday night inundating the roads. Houses were flooded while bylanes and main roads were completely submerged. Office-goers struggled to get out of their houses while public transportation went haywire. With many buses keeping off roads, commuters had a harrowing time. The water-logging has also affected smooth polling at many of the booths at Ernakulam assembly constituency. This also brought down the polling percentage in the constituency. Online taxis and autorickshaws too avoided the flooded roads, further throwing life out of gear. Huge rush was witnessed at Metro stations with it being the best operational mode of transport available on Monday. However, the situation improved by afternoon with rain stopping, causing water to recede in many places.

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