Kerala's 'Operation Anantha' to be replicated nationally

The Centre has shown interest in Kerala government's 'Operation Anantha', a flagship flood-mitigation drive, and is set to replicate it in other parts of the country, Jiji Thomson, who retires as state Chief Secretary said here today.
"The Centre had sought a report on Operation Anantha last week to replicate it in other parts of the country. Prime Minister Narenda Modi has special interest in the project," Thomson, who retired today, told reporters here.
Thomson had masterminded 'Operation Anantha' to equip the state capital face floods and free it of illegal encroachments. Under the first phase of the mission, 30 km of canals and storm water drains in the city had been desilted and widened up to 3.5 metres, Thomson, who has now been appointed as a Special Advisor to Chief Minister, said.

He said they had collected and verified archival records and documents to find out the exact locations of canals and drains crisscrossing the city.
Though the drive was launched in the capital, similar missions had been implemented successfully in other parts of the state, including Kannur and Ernakulam districts, and a number of water bodies and canals were cleaned, he said.
"All these were triggered by the one action which we launched here. There might be shortcomings. But I am happy that we could achieve this much. The state budget also made allocations to replicate the mission in other districts," he said.

Operation Anantha is being implemented as a joint initiative of various departments and agencies including district administration, Suchitwa Mission and Public Works Department, he said.

Besides Operation Ananntha, Thomson said the natural gas pipeline project was also one of the projects which he wanted to implement in the state.
"GAIL is one of the most significant projects considering the state's development. Natural gas is the backbone of development. The procedures are going on and it will be implemented soon after the rest of the processes in this regard are completed," he said.
Thomson also wanted the state to have a separate waste management authority to tackle the growing solid and bio-waste menace.