“The number of eating joints across the city has gone up and many of them are running without prior permission from the civic body. These joints are favourite meeting points for people and are most vulnerable for any criminal activity,” said R R Pardeshi, PMC Chief Medical Officer. It is mandatory for the eateries to take licence from the civic body, but hardly 6,000 of around 25,000 have taken the permission.

“A list of licenced, unlicenced and evening eating joints is being prepared. The civic body will crackdown on all the joints being illegally run in the PMC jurisdiction,” he said.

team of medical officers will register the eating joints in three months. The licences will be reviewed if the eating joints are not following the rules, Pardeshi said. After the survey, a meeting of the owners will be held.

Civic action will be applicable to malls and commercial establishments also. “The eating joints at the mall should also have their security measures at place considering the crowd there. The exercise will also be extended to the IT companies as they have canteens that cater to large number of people,” Pardeshi said.

The civic authorities said the city police should ensure that these eating joints follow the rules and shut down down at the set time

Though the authorities managed to meet expectations in some areas, the majority of issues that need urgent attention seem to be neglected. One such is the mosquito menace plaguing the city. Kochiites are forced to shell out a substantial amount on mosquito repellents every month.

Though the civic body claims that it is siphoning off lakhs of rupees to fight the menace, mosquitoes that are causative agents of many dreaded diseases are left to breed in stagnant water.

Though the Corporation authorities claim that they are undertaking fogging and spraying regularly, they have not been very effective. As per the recommendations made by some entomologists, the Corporation had decided to launch an integrated project for a modernised sewerage system in the city. In the 2008-2009 budget, allocations were made for a modernised sewerage system at an estimated cost of Rs 24.62 crore. The plan was to implement the project in three phases. The same project was included in the 2009-10 budget as well.

But it is still in its initial stages. “The Kerala Water Authority has to implement the project on behalf of the Corporation. The plan was to modernise the existing sewage plant at Elamkulam and to construct new plants at Mundamvely and Edappally. For this purpose, nearly 10 pumping stations have to be constructed,” said a Corporation official.

“Land acquisition is a major hurdle that is delaying the project,” the official added.

Kochi of yesteryear was blessed with a natural flushing mechanism where salt water from the backwaters used to flush out mosquito larvae from the drains during the rainy season. But due to increased urbanisation, the waterways are blocked with non-degradable waste hampering free flow of water.

Better public hygiene, well cleaned drains and efficient sewerage system are the only permanent solutions to fight mosquito menace. But so far nothing has been done in this regard. The promise of a better sewerage system and a mosquito-free Kochi is likely to feature in this year’s budget too.