A year after Joy's death, waste still flows in Amayizhanjan Canal in TVM, so does apathy

Thiruvananthapuram: It has been a year since Joy, a cleaning worker, drowned while removing sacks of plastic waste from the Pazhavangady canal, locally known as Amayizhanjan canal. Yet, the water body continues to be choked with garbage.

Though cleaned at regular intervals, tonnes of waste, particularly plastic, remain lodged inside the tunnel beneath the railway platform. The Corporation’s withdrawal of regular monitoring and the government’s failure to implement announced projects have allowed the canal to regress into its polluted past.

Joy (45), of Malancharive House in Vadakara, Marayamuttam, went missing on July 13 last year while cleaning this canal. His body was recovered 46 hours later near Thakaraparambu. His death, a direct result of systemic apathy from the government, the Corporation and the Railways, has left a poor family without its sole breadwinner.

A year later
The tunnel beneath the railway line, where waste had been trapped for years, was finally cleared in January after months of effort. The Irrigation Department undertook the work at a cost of ₹63 lakh, removing approximately 1,500 sq.m of sand, sludge, and garbage.

There was strong surveillance by the Corporation officials in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy. But as months passed, vigilance waned. Today, there is no waste-checking mechanism in place, not even symbolic oversight.

A high-level meeting chaired by the Chief Minister had decided to erect a covered fencing system along an 11-km stretch of the canal, budgeted at ₹5.54 crore. But the Irrigation Department’s file has been caught in bureaucratic limbo, even after halving the original estimate of  ₹11 crore.

The Corporation had also proposed forming `alert committees' in the seven wards through which the canal flows with councillors and health officials tasked with its oversight. Only five committees were ever constituted and they seldom, if ever, meet.

An order issued to recall sanitation workers deployed to other posts was revoked just a day later following pressure from the ruling party's affiliated union.

Promises made after the tragedy

• Waste to be cleared from beneath the railway tunnel
• Round-the-clock surveillance to prevent illegal dumping
• Covered fencing in a half-moon design to deter waste disposal
• Alert committees in seven wards to regularly monitor the canal
• Sanitation workers to be reinstated to original cleaning posts
• Compensation and housing for Joy’s family

Promises fulfilled
Compensation: The government and the Corporation only managed to fulfill the promise of a house to Joy’s family. The state government also provided ₹10 lakh to Joy’s family.

Housing: Construction of a house for Joy’s mother, Melhi, is underway after months of uncertainty. The District Panchayat identified land and the Corporation sanctioned ₹10 lakh for the project. The concrete sunshade has been completed and work is ongoing.

Initially, the plan was to construct the new house adjacent to Joy’s existing home. But due to unstable land conditions, the site was shifted to Konathuvilakathu in Marayamuttam’s Anamukham ward, around 2 km from the original location.

Legal Battle: Joy’s mother and siblings filed a compensation case worth ₹30 lakh in the Employees’ Compensation Court with the Corporation and the Railways as respondents. The Railways deposited ₹13,23,131 in the court, which has been placed in a fixed deposit at the Kumarapuram branch of Punjab National Bank. The deposit certificate was handed over to Joy’s mother.