KOCHI: MG Road, the city main thoroughfare, which has often proved a nightmare for motorists on account of inadequate parking space and never-ending traffic snarls, has an added worry now. Widespread encroachments on either side of the road from Madhava Pharmacy Junction to Thevara Junction, which abuts premium real estate whose market value keeps on skyrocketing, have further worsened matters.
According to an RTI reply, as many as 267 encroachments have been reported on this stretch. From the public’s standpoint, it is the inaction on the part of the corporation in taking affirmative action which is even more worrying. Nearly a decade-and-a-half ago in 2007 when the civic body last took action to recover land under illegal possession in the region, encroachments on 80.92 cents of land could be cleared.
“Though the district collector, revenue minister and corporation officials are seized of the matter, there has been little follow-up action,” said T N Prathapan, social activist. According to him, out of the corporation-owned 16 cents of land situated opposite the Central Square Mall on the stretch, six cents have been usurped by encroachers.
According to him, areas south of SRV High school and north of Maharaja’s College ground also have a high number of encroachments. “There is also no place to lay water pipes, telephone cables and electricity cables on the road due to this,” Prathapan said.
Eloor Gopinath, secretary, Residents’ Associations Coordination Council (RACO) said that the government should reclaim the encroached areas and use fences to distinguish the land and mark them as government property to prevent future encroachments. “The evicted area can be used to build bus bays, multi level parking facilities, footpaths or for planting saplings as part of beautification by involving residents’ associations in the area,” he added.
K S Dileep Kumar, president, Ernakulam Vikasana Samithi, pointed out that over 40 cents are yet to be cleared of encroachers. “The fact that the recovered lands are not utilised properly or protected using fences has contributed to the encroachments,” he said, adding, the properly fenced out areas belonging to Kochi Metro Rail Ltd. and Cochin Smart Mission Ltd. at Kacheripady and Jose Junction, respectively are models which the civic body could well follow.