Kerala High Court asks District Collector to come up with proposals to prevent flooding of Ernakulam KSRTC depot

High Court directs Collector and the committee constituted by it to visit the KSRTC depot. Amici Curiae submits that the depot gets flooded as it is located in a low-lying area. Court also asks Collector to visit site of new apartments for P & T Colony and take action

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday directed the District Collector and the committee constituted by the court to visit the Ernakulam KSRTC depot and file their recommendations to address flooding of the depot during rain.

Justice Devan Ramachandran observed that the court could not be oblivious to the matter as it was in the interest of the public.

The court said that the recommendations of the Collector and the committee could finally lead to the restoration of the depot to its former glory.

The court made the observation when petitions seeking action to prevent flooding of the city came up for hearing.

The Amici Curiae in the case submitted that though flooding in the city had been much lesser than what was experienced in the past years, the KSRTC depot was unfortunately still flooded. They said it was more so on account of the fact that the depot was located in a very low-lying area, making it virtually impossible for water to flow into the Vivekananda canal. They also pointed out that there was an old pipe laid from the depot into the canal, but because it was laid so low, water from the latter flowed into the former, rather than the other way around.

The court also asked the Collector and the committee to evaluate the work on the Mullassery canal, not merely with respect to the ongoing work by the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) but also with respect to its restoration in other places where water pipes had already been relocated, and to file a report.

The standing counsel for the KWA submitted that the work for relocating pipes in the canal was in progress, and that it would be completed without delay.