Canal cleaning: Kochi Corporation finds its hands tied

Mayor fears audit objection to desilting of major canals in the city

Parts of the annual pre-monsoon canal cleaning ritual have not been taken up, with the Kochi Corporation’s hands being tied in the matter of longer canals. While smaller drains and canals have mostly been cleaned and desilted, others like the Perandoor canal and Kalvathy canal have not witnessed even the temporary redemption that comes from desilting. The Thevara-Perandoor canal had been cleaned and desilted beginning in 2019 and continuing into 2020 as part of the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), said Mayor M. Anilkumar. With those bills just being passed, sanctioning another round of cleaning of the Perandoor canal this year will not be possible, since it could lead to audit objection, he said. Besides, the canal has already been included in an upcoming Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) project—the Integrated Urban Regeneration and Water Transport System (IURWTS) —making it difficult for the civic body to initiate another project for the canal.