KOCHI: Marine Drive is often heralded as one of the most iconic spots in Kochi. Since the early 1980s, the walkway here has been widely termed as the face of the ‘Queen of the Arabian sea’. But not any more!
Even after a month since the Kerala High Court ordered the renovation of the stretch after evicting vendors, Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) hasn’t lifted a finger on the issue and the agency has shown sheer indifference to the court’s directive. To make things worse, GCDA’s lackadaisical approach has transformed the tourist hub into a dumping yard. The High Court will take up the case on October 3.
Ranjit G Thampy, who filed the petition in the High Court seeking a directive to GCDA in the issue, is utterly disappointed with the agency’s approach. “The agency has shown complete disobedience to the court order. They had a month to act on the issue and didn’t even remove a bush from the stretch. A huge amount of waste materials are piled up on the tourist spot. It is just a matter of assigning a few daily wage workers to clean up the mess. The GCDA officials are least bothered about the public’s woes,” he said.
Meanwhile, GCDA appears to be passing the buck.
“As Cochin Smart Mission Ltd (CSML) is implementing several works under Marine Drive beautification project, we are trying to avoid the duplication on the stretch. Moreover, the court has given us six weeks to complete the renovation works. So far, we have repaired most of the streetlights on the stretch. We are trying to repair damaged benches, instal CCTVs and re-fix the broken tiles in the remaining days,” said Ramachandran A, secretary, GCDA.
When asked about clearing the heap of waste, the secretary said, “As per my knowledge, a daily-wage worker is handling the cleaning work on the stretch. We have already reached out to DTPC for installing eco-friendly toilets, but the process might take some time.”
“Though we have offered our cleaning staff in the past for cleaning the walkway, it is the GCDA which looks after the stretch these days. But they haven’t requested our service in recent times. As it is under their jurisdiction, we haven’t attempted to clean it either,” said R S Anu, secretary, Kochi Corporation.
CSML project is under the tender process and the officials stated that the project had nothing to do with temporary renovation.