Kochi corporation probes causes of MG Road flooding

Kochi: As MG Road witnesses waterlogging events in every rain and flood mitigation measures failed to yield results here, corporation authorities conducted a joint inspection on Wednesday.This followed waterlogging at MG Road after heavy rain on Tuesday night. Storm water reportedly entered shops near Metro station, even though motor pump at Madhava Pharmacy Jn operated to pump out water. Currently, contractors are asked to operate the pump themselves whenever there is rain.Deputy mayor Deepak Joy said inlets to drain out water from MG Road to the drain were inadequate. "There should have been inlets every 10 ft from Padma Jn to Madhava Pharmacy Jn. However, currently there are only around eight to 10 inlets, which is highly inadequate and unable to drain out a huge quantity of water to the drains. Besides, ongoing footpath-laying works by PWD, which owns the road, are being done without providing adequate inlets for sucking out sludge from drains," he said.Meeting held after the joint inspection noted that PWD has not constructed cross culvert in the drain at Madhava Pharmacy Jn, as promised earlier. The meeting noted that if PWD gave a no-objection certificate to construct a cross culvert and additional inlets on the road, corporation is ready to do the works.Meanwhile, the meeting also decided to conduct another joint inspection at Madhava Pharmacy Jn on Thursday morning.