Protest mounting in Aluva over digging of drain

ALUVA: The irresponsible action of the Aluva municipal authorities damaging the PWD drain on the side of the Bridge Road here in the name of cleaning it has triggered a major controversy.Following this the access to a major hospital, shops and establishments was blocked, water pipelines destroyed and phone and internet cables snapped. The work was done on Thursday and completed by night.The inpatients and the bystanders were trapped on the hospital premises as they could not cross the open trench.The merchants were the worst affected as their business came to a standstill.The municipal authorities said that the canal was 'opened' to remove the silt and mud to prevent water-logging. But the municipality had no right to carry out such work on the PWD road and the canal, local people said.The municipal authorities claimed that they had informed the PWD about the work but the latter denied it. The municipality had not even informed the KWA and the BSNL authorities about the work.It is learnt that the municipal engineer and the revenue officer in charge of the secretary were also kept in the dark. The work was carried out under the supervision of Municipal chairman M T Jacob and standing committee chairpersons K V Sarala and M P Simon.Hundreds of aggrieved persons, including patients and merchants, took out a protest rally on Friday when their plea to reconstruct the canal was ignored by the municipal authorities.The LDF activists also joined the protestors. They stormed into the municipal office and gheraoed the revenue officer. The revenue officer told Express that neither he nor the municipal engineer was aware of the work.He directed the municipal engineer to inspect the site. The municipal engineer reportedly informed the revenue officer that the access to the hospital and shops was prevented.Aluva SI Nishad Ibrahim convened a meeting of the municipal authorities, the PWD officials and the protesters to solve the issue.The agitators withdrew the gherao when the SI promised that the restoration of the damaged canal would begin on Friday.Meanwhile, Anwar Sadath MLA instructed the PWD engineers to carry out the construction of the canal on a warfooting. But the work was not resumed till late in the evening.