THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: "Every file which arrives at the corporation comprises a person’s requirement. I will ensure that all such needs of the public are fulfilled. For the past four years, former Mayor VK Prasanth and I have been a team. I will be carrying forward what he started as a Mayor," said K Sreekumar, the new Mayor of Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. Sreekumar, who took charge on Wednesday, was welcomed by corporation officials and members of other organisations.
Sreekumar was visibly excited as he returned after inaugurating the mega manuscript event at St Mary’s Higher Secondary School, Pattom where about 12,484 students attempted to create a record by writing poems, essays and short stories on ‘Athijeevanathinte Keralam’ to bring out about 212 volumes on Children’s Day.“I was overwhelmed with joy as I started my day as the new Mayor witnessing the record attempt of students writing on the state’s story of survival through the major disasters in the past two years,” said Sreekumar.
Stressing on the much-discussed Smart City project of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, Sreekumar said that all the initiatives under Smart City will be prioritised and fast-tracked. Two important projects stressed by the new Mayor was the redevelopment of the Connemara Market at Palayam. He said: “We are planning to modernise the market and devote the ground floor completely for vendors, accommodating about 500 of them. This will not only help the vendors but also solve the problem of encroachment.”
The second plan is to construct an underground plaza in the Gandhi Park-East Fort area which will be modelled on the Palika Bazaar in New Delhi, he said. “Currently, I am trying to speed up procedures for construction of these proposed projects which will help in the development of the city,” he said.
He said the problem of streetlights has been partially solved in the city and they have been able to convert almost 40,000 bulbs into LED with the help of the Kerala State Electricity Board. “The LED lights project has been successfully implemented in the city and the coming days, the remaining bulbs will be replaced with LED,” he said.
He raised his concern towards waste management and said that the city corporation has been efficient in dealing with the waste generated in the city with many environmental-friendly initiatives. “No other corporation in the country has been able to tackle the issue of waste effectively and we have been able to reduce waste generated per day to almost half the amount. From preparing a waste collection calendar to set up waste collection points, the city corporation has been successful in reducing the generation of plastic waste,” said the Mayor.
Sreekumar aims to focus on the development of the city, with the upcoming fourth anniversary of the corporation. He spent the day holding meetings with the head of the departments of the corporation and the Local Self Government department.