KOCHI: It seems the ongoing buffer zone issue has got another victim. This time it is the Ernakulam Old Railway Station near Mangalavanam Bird Sanctuary. According to Ernakulam Old Railway Station Development Samithi convenor K P Harihara Kumar, some people with vested interests are trying to put a total brake on the redevelopment of the station.
“Some movement in the direction of the development of the Old Railway Station, which has a lot of historical importance, had been taking place with the sanctioning of the works to replace old sleepers in this station. For this, the Railway had sanctioned Rs 2 crore and even the sleepers had been changed. All these were positive signs concerning the development of the station. However, now some people are trying to use the contentious buffer zone issue to put a spoke in the wheels of development that might happen sometime in the coming years,” said Harihara Kumar.
According to him, the sanctuary is spread over a diameter of just 0.25 km and is being termed a wildlife sanctuary. “It is not. Mangalavanam is an ecologically sensitive area. This tiny spot of forest that came up all by itself is considered as a hurdle for the development of the station situated in around 42 acres of land,” he added.
“In the past, before the Kerala High Court’s building had come up there, some migratory birds used to come to the sanctuary. However, with buildings coming up around it, the flight path of the birds got disrupted and now rarely they come here to nest,” he said. Those with vested interests are trying to mislead the public through misinformation. Samithi strongly protests such a move, he added.
The old railway station, a 120-year-old facility of historical importance, lies abandoned near the High Court junction in a 42-acre jungle, covered by creepers. Kochi King Rama Varma had sold his crown and the golden ornaments stored in the Sree Poornathrayeesa Temple at Tripunithura to complete the work on the station.
It was at this station that
Mahatma Gandhi got down on his way to attend Vaikom Satyagraha in 1924. The station also witnessed the arrivals of Swami Vivekananda and Rabindranath Tagore. The facility was abuzz with activities till the Ernakulam South Railway Station came into being in 1936.