Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Wednesday said urgent steps would be taken to evict all encroachers along Amayizhanjan canal to end, once and for all, the perennial problem of flooding at Thampanoor.
At the Cabinet briefing, Mr Chandy said that despite several flood mitigation projects already undertaken, the situation had returned to disastrous effect after successive rains. He said a single spell of heavy shower had brought the entire Thampanoor under water yet again a few days back.
Mr Chandy said that all encroachments along the canal would be removed at the earliest.
Mr Chandy said Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson visited Thampanoor area personally to study the problem and made a detailed presentation before the Cabinet, pointing out that encroachments at various places along Amayizhanjan canal were posing a major hurdle to the smooth flow of water.
Encroachments created obstacles at various places and unless these were removed, no flood mitigation project would be effective.
He said a high-level committee, headed by District Collector Biju Prabhakar, and comprising representatives of minor and major irrigation departments, Kerala Water Authority, City Corporation and Kerala State Urban Development Project, had been constituted to implement a coordinate action plan. Mr Jiji Thomson would hold full charge of the committee.
