KOCHI: After nearly four months, when Sreejesh Thampi, a Chilavannoor resident visited The Streetscape in Panampilly Nagar, he was a little disappointed. “My last memory of it, pre-Covid, was a beautiful well-lit stretch buzzing with joggers and vendors. But, when I went there last weekend, the lights were out and overgrown plants and plastic bottles were taking over the cycle track. A few women and teenagers were still on the benches and walking up and down, but it is starting to look like a ghost town,” he says.
Unlike the Marine Drive renovation project which has been dragging through the years, Streetscape was a dream-come-true for Kochiites, efficiently executed by KMRL in 2018. But, the ambitious project inaugurated by chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan that has a 750-metre-long walkway-cum-cycle track constructed on Shihab Thangal Road near Panampilly Nagar, is now facing neglect.
An MoU signed jointly by KMRL, the Greater Cochin Development Authority and the city corporation in December 2017 vests the maintenance of Streetscape for five years with KMRL. However, the plan was for the organisation to generate revenue from the project and appropriate the same for meeting maintenance costs.
But, with the Covid pandemic, a cash-strapped KMRL is in no position to bear this cost. However, according to Srikanth Gopinath, a resident of one of the apartments facing Streetscape, they did do maintenance two months back after being alerted of grass and weed overtaking the walkway. “They came and chopped the grass when we intimated them. Earlier this year the tiles were fixed too. Cleaning and sweeping were never regular, but it used to happen on and off initially. But since the monsoon started, none of the lights is working and no one has bothered to fix it. This even applies to the footpaths leading to Shihab Thangal Road,” he says.
But for KMRL, however, keeping up this maintenance is an impossible task. “We spent between `2-5 lakh on it. KMRL is going through a crisis too, with the lockdown. The streetlights are handled by the Corporation or KSEB. KMRL doesn’t always have the mechanism to maintain such big projects. For the Streetscape especially, we are hoping the residents of PanampillyNagar or corporate firms would come forward to maintain it as part of their CSR activities,” said a KMRL spokesperson.
Srikanth agrees that corporates or communities coming forward is the best option.
Only two or three major builders have flats on this slide of Panampilly Nagar. Also, I think more than residents of the area, people from all corners of Kochi use the facility, so it is more of a collective issue. Even in the beginning, the public has shown very little responsibility in keeping the place up - for instance, there was a rule you cannot walk pets there. But I have seen many do it. Now without proper monitoring and maintenance, people are dropping waste wrappers and bottles that keep piling up. Without intervention, this project might soon fall apart,” he says.
streetscape
The ambitious project was executed by the KMRL in 2018. It was inaugurated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan that built a 750-metre-long walkway-cum-cycle track was constructed on Shihab Thangal Road near Panampilly Nagar. An MoU signed jointly by KMRL, GCDA and corp in December 2017 vests the maintenance of Streetscape for five years with KMRL.