Promises and assurances by Kochi corporation on Broadway renovation fall flat

Tall promises and assurances by the Corporation on Broadway renovation have fallen flat. Seven months after The New Indian Express carried a series on the chaos at Broadway, our reporter Anilkumar T and lensman Albin Mathew revisit the place to find that not a single step has been taken to unclog the stretch
Promises and assurances by Kochi corporation on Broadway renovation fall flat

KOCHI: The promises were aplenty. Plans were made, assurances given and deadlines    set. But seven months later, Broadway continues to choke, once again   proving that it is all just words and no actions.  Even Mayor Soumini Jain who vouched - days after assuming the office - to make the iconic trading street of Kochi into a 'friendly walking plaza'  seems to have forgotten about it.

"We were caught up with some other projects," said the Mayor when  Express contacted her for the updates on the Broadway renovation projects.

Not a single step

When Express ran a series seven months back on how the one-kilometre  Broadway stretch was suffering from illegal parking, the Mayor had said that  the issue will be resolved soon. She assured us that talks will be held with the Kerala Tourism Department seeking its land near the Broadway for   exclusive parking of vehicles coming to the street. But, not a single step has been taken so far.

The Tourism Department officials have no clue about the statement. "We happened to read the Mayor's statement from the newspaper but so far  neither the Corporation nor the Secretary have approached the Tourism  Department in this regard. As of now, we cannot say anything. Let them   approach us and then we will think about holding a discussion," said a top official of Tourism Department.

Promises galore 

Provision for multi-level parking was another assurance made by the Mayor.  The project was planned as part of the Central Government-funded Smart City  project. However, there is no special plan included in the Smart City project to built multi-level parking exclusively for Broadway. 

"The Corporation had a plan to install CCTV cameras along the Broadway  stretch to monitor illegal parking. If they could do the same for curbing   waste menace, they could have done the same for parking too. Actually, most vehicles parked here are not shoppers," said K J Antony, Opposition Leader, Corporation.

The Mayor had also promised the council to hold a discussion with the stakeholders, including shop owners, street vendors, Traffic Police and the Motor Vehicles Department but it is yet to happen.

"The renovation will happen only after rehabilitating the street vendors.   We are ready to provide the space, but no talks have been initiated so far,"  said V A Mohammed Ashraf, president, Kerala Merchants Chamber of Commerce.

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