One just has to have a cursory look at the design of the drainage inlets at Paramara Road to get an idea of the lackadaisical approach of Kochi Corporation engineers as well as contractors involved in the work. Operation Breakthrough, the objective of which was to repair and redesign existing drainage systems in Kochi to mitigate water-logging in an around low lying locations of the district.

Paramara Road is prone to heavy water-logging and the establishments along the road have had to bear the costs arising from damages to their shops, stock as well as equipment.

In this specific post I am going to put forth my views only about the poor design of the new drainage system along the length of Paramara Road which was executed under the Operation Breakthrough project of the district administration.

The drainage along the road was made deeper and wider with reinforced concrete. Heavy slabs have been placed on top of the drainage canal to cover the same and doubles as the surface of the footpath.

However the drainage inlet from the road leading into the drain has no mesh or protective grill to prevent waste including plastic debris from entering the drain which runs below the foot-path. A simple mesh or grill could have been in incorporated into the design of the canal walls/top-slabs.

This would have prevented any debris from entering the canal through these inlets and eased the burden of drainage maintenance.

It is just a matter of time before these newly constructed drains are clogged with debris including plastic waste.

Cleaning the drains of slush/silt is done by Kochi Corporation to allow the free flow of drainage water and this is usually an annual affair just before the monsoons commence. A lot of this work could have been greatly reduced had these side-inlets been designed with grills/mesh to prevent silt and debris entering the drains from the surface of the road.

Another flaw in the design of the newly constructed drainage is the lack of manholes in the top-slabs for access into the drain for maintenance. The top-slabs covering the drainage canal are much heavier than before and lifting these slabs for cleaning the drains will be a huge challenge without heavy-machinery.

It is often seen that when heavy-machinery is deployed to lift these top-slabs, these slabs are damaged and are not replaced to its original position incurring further loss to property and endangering the safety and lives of citizens. I know children who have fallen into the drain because of missing top-slabs.

Here is a report in The Hindu on “Kochi Corporation yet to restore tiles that were removed to desilt drains“

A simple change in the design could have been incorporated in the top slabs of the canal by incorporating custom man-holes through which cleaning could take place without the need of lifting the heavy slabs. ( As which has been done by Kochi Metro)

What does it take to incorporate such a minor improvement in the design of the drainage system? Is it the cost involved? Certainly not. From the information available in the public domain, lakhs have been allocated for Operation Breakthrough. I am sure we have competent engineers who can advise on such minor improvements in design which can go a long way in reducing water clogging in the city.

I have also seen roads with drains where there are no inlets at all. Well, that story needs a separate post on how Kochi Corporation built drainage canals to prevent water logging without side inlets for water to escape. How could they not have thought of making drain side inlets for water to escape?!

When designing new improvements in any aspect of “Public Works” we need to not only have an engineer with competency, experience, knowledge but also people with the ability to think beyond the task of pouring concrete and critically look at the design drawings handed over to him to accomplish the task.

We need public servants who have a long term vision for developing basic infrastructure in the city and can also look at minor improvements which accumulate to a point where they can have a lasting impact on the public works design to improve the lives of citizens.

Public servants need to talk to citizens, experts, designers rather than forming committees to execute these minor improvements. We have competent engineers/designers who can contribute their knowledge and expertise to bring about these changes without the need for forming committees.

I look forward to writing a series of posts on minor design improvements which can have a impact on interaction between the citizens and its urban infrastructure. If you wish to contribute to this blog or share photos of civic issues of your neighborhood, do get in touch with me urbangrouseorg [at] gmail [dot] com

Disclaimer: DO NOTE THIS IS NOT A JOB POSTING FOR DESIGNERS/ENGINEERS FOR KOCHI CORPORATION OR PWD OR ANY GOVT JOB.