Up until 2018, residents of Kozhikode were confident that no floods could touch them.
Regular waterlogging, especially in the heart of the city, has become the norm since then, and the reasons are often traced back to the Conolly Canal and the Kallai river that it empties into. Now, the floods in Chennai have brought the issue of the river back into focus, with environmentalists and local residents warning of a worse situation in Kozhikode if the natural flow of the Kallai is not restored.
Encroachments and silt accumulation at the bottom of the river have been under discussion for decades. A survey done a decade ago had revealed that at least 23.5 acres on both sides of the Kallai river had been encroached upon. However, the Kallai River Protection Committee that had approached Kerala High Court demanding that the encroachments be cleared, claimed that there was more land that had not come under the survey.
