Kochi: The Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) and Kochi Corporation have denied reports of wetland filling at Elamkulam along the banks of backwaters. A group of social activists alleged that the metro agency is illegally filling up the land.
Through a video posted in social media, a group of social activists raised serious allegations against the KMRL that the agency is reclaiming the land under the disguise of metro construction works.
‘There is no unauthorised land filling being carried out at Elamkulam metro construction site or in any other sites of metro,” KMRL said in a release. “The land next to the Elamkulam metro station, shown in the video, is owned by Kochi Corporation. McNally Bharat Engineer, the firm engaged by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, has taken the land on lease from the corporation to carry out the construction works. The contractor had sent a letter on January 4, 2018 to DMRC informing that they have vacated the land and handed over the land back to the corporation.”
It is understood that currently, the corporation is carrying out its annual pre-monsoon dredging at the water body. The sludge taken during the dredging is dumped at the land, not in any water body, and is expected to be removed once it is dry, according to the release.
Health committee chairperson Pratibha Ansari told DC that it is pre-monsoon cleaning of the canal which is being carried out and not reclamation.
