A stagnant, stinking canal

KOCHI: Just over two months after the cleaning of the Perandoor Canal, waste and stink have again crept in affecting its flow. And presently, for those travelling through the Judges Avenue in Kaloor, the area near the Perandoor Canal is not a pleasant sight.The cleaning of the canal was done by the Corporation by spending at least `8 lakh in each region.“The canal is being used as a dumping yard for waste in the city and until a proper methodology is adopted for sewage treatment, the canal will never be clean, no matter how much money is being spent by the Corporation,” said an official with the local body. The canal is a dumping yard for the market folk, fish vendors, hospitals and hotels. But they cannot be blamed as the city currently has only 5 per cent of its area under a proper sewage system.“The plan to set up a sewage system has been sanctioned, but the Kerala Water Authority has not yet taken any action on this,” he said. Another solution to the problem is to put in place an effective solid waste management for the city. “The problem mainly arises because of the lack of proper town planning,” architect Anuj Gopakumar of Kumar Group saidThe presence of small culverts built by the railways is a big threat to the free flow of the Perandoor canal. “Even the railways know this. But until the railways is ready to spent some money and takes some initiative to build a culvert of the same size and depth of the canal and move their waste in another direction, the problem of stagnant and stinking canals will remain,” Gopakumar said.Four months ago, the canal was handed over to the Irrigation Department citing that Corporation funds would not be sufficient for the proper cleaning of the canal. It is also a matter of responsibility for the public too. Even when they see an already dirty canal, they do not hesitate to dump more waste into it, Gopakumar said.