Cleaning of drains begins on MG Road; more hotels to be inspected for illegal dumping

City administration is planning to inspect more hotels on MG road for illegal dumping of food waste into the city drains.

List of hotels functioning on the busy road was taken and inspections would be carried out in the coming days, followed by action against violators, said T.K. Ashraf, chairperson of the Health Standing Committee of the Kochi Corporation.

The civic body had issued notices to five eateries on Tuesday asking them to temporarily down the shutters after it was found that the waste from these eateries were pushed into the drains. An inspection carried out by the civic authorities had earlier revealed that the food waste thus dumped into the drain had consolidated and blocked the free flow of flood water.

During a discussion with the organisation of hoteliers, the local body has communicated its decision that the closed down eateries will be allowed to resume functioning only after complying with the rules and regulations, including the installation of facilities for waste management, said Mr. Ashraf.

On Tuesday, the workers of the local body were deployed on MG road to clean the major drains and to remove the blocks in small drains that run through the area. The work was progressing, he said.

Incidentally, the Kerala High Court had asked the local body to take steps to avert flooding in the area in one week.

Meanwhile, Youth Congress workers laid siege to Kochi Mayor M. Anilkumar’s office on Wednesday demanding steps for addressing the issue of flooding.

Most parts of the city had been experiencing severe flooding during the past few years. The civic body has failed to act against those who are flouting the norms and dumping waste into drains. The Mayor was only interested in publicity stunts on social media, alleged the Youth Congress workers.

Youth Congress leaders Sijo Joseph, Nobel Kumar, and P.Y. Shajahan led the protest. The police later arrested and removed the workers from the office of the Mayor.