Amid intense and risky search operations for sanitation worker Joy that has lasted over 32 hours, the Thiruvananthapuram Railway Division and city Corporation have indulged in a blame game on who was responsible to remove the solid waste that has accumulated in the portions of the Amayizhanchan canal that pass through the railway property.

Thiruvananthapuram Additional Divisional Railway Manager Viji MR refuted Mayor Arya Rajendran's assertion earlier on Sunday that the Railways had refused permission to the Corporation to carry out cleaning activities within the railway premises. "The Corporation has never asked us for permission. If they had, we would have readily granted them," Viji told reporters.

The ADRM said that the cleaning of the canal was the responsibility of the Corporation. She said it was the Corporation that had undertaken the sewage removal works in 2015 (as part of Operation Anantha), 2018 and 2022. "We took up the cleaning as our own initiative in 2023 and this year," she said.

In response, the Mayor said the Railways took up the work only after it was served repeated reminders. She also said that none of the senior Railway officials attend the meetings on sanitation convened by the ministers and the Corporation. "They always send some junior-level officers who can take a stand only after referring the decisions we take at the meetings to their higher-ups," Rajendran said.

ADRM Viji, however, denied there was any delay. Nonetheless, she said the Railways had taken up the cleaning work this time, like last year, only as a proactive move and not because it was its responsibility.

However, she conceded that there was a dispute on who is responsible for removing the waste. "Our stand is that it is the Corporation's job," she said.

Further, the ADRM argued that the waste did not originate at the Railway station or office. "It comes from outside, from outside the railway premises, from other parts of the city," she said. Viji also said that the mesh erected by the Railways to block the ingress of solid waste like plastic into the railway premises was a bit too large, not good enough to rein in plastic waste. "We have plans to tighten the mesh, make the opening smaller," she said.

The ADRM said that the Railways did not contribute to the waste in the canal. "The Railway pit lines go straight to a recycling plant. It does not pass through the canal," she said.

The Mayor differed. She said that the Corporation's assessment was that the Railways was dumping its waste into the canal. "If not, how come Rail Neer bottles (a branded commodity of IRCTC) were found among the waste in the canal," the Mayor asked.

She said the Corporation would soon formally ask the Railways to explain how waste was treated inside the railway premises.