THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With stakeholder departments at loggerheads, decongesting the busy East Fort — the infamous blackspot known for pedestrian deaths and accidents — is going to be a herculean task for the state government.
A recent meeting convened by Minister Antony Raju with various stakeholders — Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), corporation, State Town and Country Planning Department, Smart City Thiruvananthapuram Ltd (SCTL) and Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB) — to come up with a plan to decongest East Fort has failed to reach a consensus.
As per NATPAC (National Transportation Planning and Research Centre) statistics, the peak hour pedestrian footfall in the busy Overbridge Jn to East Fort stretch comes to around 10,000 to 15,000. An average of 800 buses (both private and KSRTC) operate in the region, causing traffic chaos.
The State Town and Country Planning Department has proposed a ‘town square’ or ‘city plaza’ at East Fort, which falls in the core part of the city. However, KSRTC, which owns around 2.5 acre of land at East Fort, have expressed stiff protest against the proposal.
KSRTC is operating around a fleet of 486 buses conducting multiple trips a day via East Fort. The number of buses has increased on the city roads after the introduction of circular buses and electric buses introduced by the KSRTC. This is in addition to the hundreds of private vehicles, autorickshaws and private buses plying the busy East Fort every day.
The renovation of the East Fort continues to remain a pipe dream. Subway and skywalk were the two projects proposed to make it pedestrian-friendly. The skywalk implemented by the corporation has failed to serve its purpose because of its unscientific design while the subway project proposed by SCTL was scrapped because of feasibility issues.
The town planning department has proposed the shifting of KSRTC operation elsewhere to decongest East Fort and make it a more comfortable public space in the capital. “We have to think long-term, and Thiruvananthapuram is growing rapidly. East Fort doesn’t need to be the hub of everything. Every city worldwide has a city square or a town square where pedestrian movement is given priority. A place where people can gather and relax.
As per the draft master plan, East Fort, with the iconic Fort Wall and the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, should be an ideal public space. At present, chaos reigns at East Fort, and haphazard operations of buses by the KSRTC is one of the primary causes of congestion there,” said a senior official of the State Town and Country Planning Department.
The draft master plan, a vision document for the city’s development for the next two decades, proposes a totally revamped transportation plan. “Now, buses are unnecessarily touching East Fort. It’s high time KSRTC optimises its route plans, and they have so many minor depots in and around the city that are not that active. They should consider utilising these under-used depots to reduce congestion at East Fort, which need not be the centre of bus operation,” said the official.
In the meeting, the town planning proposed the state government take over the land under the possession of the KSRTC to develop the region for promoting tourism. “A total revamp is required in the transportation sector, and the city development should be based on the master plan. We have put forward our concept, and the KSRTC was not very keen on our plan. There will be more discussion in this regard,” the official added.
Master plan drags on
The long-pending master plan continues to remain on paper. Though the draft master plan has been published, the civic body has yet to initiate discussions to finalise the document. According to official sources, the civic body has received around 1,200 suggestions from the public. “The suggestions will be heard and discussed soon. The master plan has a clear vision of how the city needs to be developed for the next two decades,” said an official.
KSRTC refuses to give away land
According to KSRTC, they have shifted city bus operations to the Thampanoor terminal. “We are not starting or ending any bus service at East Fort to avoid congestion. We are not ready to give away our property at East Fort. As per the proposal of the town planning department, they have no clue where to shift our operations from East Fort. We are not against the development of the city. Attakulangara school is there, and only very few students are studying there. If the government is ready to give us the land, we are ready to shift,” said a senior official of KSRTC.
The official said that the KSRTC does not agree with the proposal. “We possess around 2.5 acre of land there. We have a garage, petrol pump and city bus stop and it’s not easy to shift. Many departments attended the meeting, and each of them have different plans at East Fort. A meeting will be held at the chief minister-level in the immediate future. The minister has asked to come up with a single proposal as pursuing multiple projects for East Fort is not possible. More meetings will be held,” said the official.
KSRTC has procured electric buses for city bus operations. “We will slowly ban conventional buses in city routes and switch over to e-buses in the near future. This will help reduce congestion,” the official added.