KOCHI: If it rains cats and dogs, the day when Kochi will be drowned is not far away. The city is literally submerged, thanks to the poor infrastructure. Life in the city has almost been paralysed during the last couple of days due to inundation. The drainage system is not up to the mark. Though funds have been earmarked for the division councillors of the Kochi Corporation for cleaning the drains, few have used them before the onset of monsoon. When it pours, it is very difficult to clean the drains. The civic body has a project for channelising the storm water to the sea. But, the project which started well ahead of time hasn’t reached anywhere so far. “We have decided to hand over a few canals in the city to the irrigation department so that they will be maintained properly. The irrigation department is preparing a list of the canals,” said Mayor Tony Chammany. “We have cleaned almost all the drains. In the Panampilly Nagar reach we asked the contractor not carry out the work as they failed to do it before monsoon,” he said. For the last couple of days, the travel woes of the commuters have become graver. Almost all the roads in the city have turned into narrow strips dotted by craters and potholes. Interestingly, it was only three or four months ago that many of these road were re-surfaced. “Even otherwise travelling through city roads is difficult. But, when it pours, the city will soon submerge in water. A journey through Chittoor Road on a rainy day will give anybody the nightmares,”said James, a petty shop owner in Kochi.But the authorities have the same old excuse they have been chanting for a long time.“The patch work on the roads will be done once the rain subsides. As a permanent solution, we have asked the state government to refix the specifications for repairing city roads,” Tony Chammany said. “As of now 20-mm chipping carpet is the method used. Even if 40-mm chipping carpet method is used, we are not sure whether the roads will be endurable. So we have asked the state government to fix the specifications on a par with state highways,” Chammany said. The functioning of many offices in the city was stalled due to flooding. Many city buses had to cut short the trips as they were running behind schedule. Even the railway passengers were hit. The water logging on railway tracks had many trains running late. Water logging affected the signal system as well.
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