Canal desiltation project awaits government nod

KOCHI: Waterlogging may become an issue of the past if the government gives a nod to the Irrigation Department for a Rs 15-crore plan to desilt and repair the Perandur-Chilavannur Canal passing through heart of the city.The Irrigation Department had conducted a study of the work to be taken up for cleaning the canal and building the worn-out sidewalls.The report is ready to be submitted to the government. The cleaning project of the canal is to take place in three phases.The first phase would require Rs 8.9 crore, the second phase Rs 2 crore and the third phase Rs 4.10 core, said C M Shaukath, AE of the Irrigation Department.The 9km-long canal comprising  the Changadam poku thodu, Karnakodam thodu, Chettichira thodu and Putthanpalam thodu, is connected to Perandur and Chilavanur rivers.Under the first phase, desilting would be carried out and protection walls  would be build wherever required. Encroachments will be removed during the second phase and the third phase would see the widening of the canals, Shaukath said.Creating awareness among the people against dumping waste was essential as large quantity of garbage and animal waste was scooped out from the Rameshwaram Canal in West Kochi.The proposal to clean the Edapally thodu, which starts as a tributary of the Periyar, ends at the Chitrapuzha in Kakkanadu, is likely to get the government nod.A proposal in this regard had already been given to the government, he said.He said that encroachment close to the canals  was being carried out. The Irrigation Department has no revenue records to remove encroachers.  However, the Taluk Surveyor is responsible for locating encroachers and demarcate the canal.