THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Hardly two weeks have passed since the inauguration of the pre-monsoon cleaning at Rajaji Nagar colony. Urban Affairs Minister Manjalamkuzhy Ali had with a covered nose, kicked off the cleaning drive. But all that was, apparently, a farce. The garbage then removed has been dumped again into the drain, which now is as clogged as it used to be. When contacted, Health Standing Committee chairperson S Pushpalatha admitted that the cleanup was done for the sake of inaugurating the drive. ‘’We were pinning hopes on the project to use garbage for platform construction at Veli. But the idea has gone up in smoke. So, for the time being, the garbage has not been removed. We have no place to take it,’’ she said. Then why the farce? What was the need for a pre-monsoon cleaning spending ` 15,000 when the garbage removed from culverts was to be dumped back the next day? The councillor in the area, UDF’s R Harikumar, however, gave another explanation. ‘’The inauguration was done for the sake of it. We are waiting for the construction of a drain nearby from the Hantex Junction to the present culvert. For that, the road has to be closed. The drain carries storm water and sewage from Secretariat and Central Stadium premises to the Amayizhanjan canal. Since this has been clogged, it has become a dumping yard. Once the new drain comes, the garbage would be a thing of the past,’’ he said. However, he chose to ignore the main issue. That the garbage removed as part of the cleanup was still remaining there and even dumped back. According to a Health Inspector, it is the case with many wards. The garbage removed from drains and culverts has been kept safely on the sides of the roads. This poses additional difficulty to pedestrians and motorists and it is often swept back into the drains by the locals.
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