THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Under the Smart City project, roads under construction in the city will be made passable by June 15. The decision was taken in an officer-level meeting chaired by Public Education and Employment Minister V. Sivankutty. It was also decided in the meeting to complete the removal of waterlogging in some areas of the city caused by heavy rains over the past three days.

The minister pointed out that construction work is currently underway on 10 roads as part of the Smart City project. The Minister has instructed the concerned officials to speed up the work and complete the construction on time. For road construction, warning boards should be installed and secured in waterlogged areas. The meeting also assessed that the officials concerned should conduct proper discussions and planning regarding the work to be done in coordination between various departments related to road construction.

Heavy rains for three days have caused waterlogging in some areas of the city. In these areas, the Public Works Department, Water Authority, Major and Minor Irrigation Departments, and the Corporation should work together on a war footing to solve the problem by May 23. In light of the weather warning of heavy rain in the city over the next few days, the lower-level officials of these departments should pre-evaluate the situation in each area and plan activities.

The concerned departments should provide a report to the District Collector regarding the activities carried out in connection with waterlogging in the city. The Collector should hand over the report to the Government. The Collector should hold a meeting of the officials of the concerned departments every evening to evaluate the activities. The Deputy Collectors should be assigned the responsibility of each area to immediately address the damage, including waterlogging in the city and other parts of the district during the monsoon. The minister suggested in the meeting that they should coordinate their activities with the corporation and government systems.

Mayor Arya Rajendran, MLAs Kadakampally Surendran, Antony Raju, V.K. Prashant, District Collector Jeromick George, ADM Premji C, Sub-Collector Dr Ashwathi Srinivas and others also participated.