THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Sreekaryam waiting shed near the College of Engineering has again become a bone of contention between the mayor and the residents association there. Even after Mayor S Arya Rajendran ordered the construction of a new bus shelter to replace the old one, which was altered by the residents association due to allegations that male and female students sat together, the Srikrishna Nagar Residents Association has renovated it.
However, the mayor intervened and promised to build a new bus shelter as soon as possible. She stated that the design for the new gender-neutral shelter has been completed. The residents association has written on the wall near the shelter that it was only a bus waiting area.
The mayor reached the spot on July 21 as student organisations protested against the moral policing act by the residents association. But even after a month and a half, no action was taken by the corporation to renovate the shelter. The residents association renovated the waiting shelter at a cost of Rs 8,500.
Meanwhile, the mayor responded that she would soon issue an order to demolish the waiting shelter built without permission on the wayside and build a new one on public-private-participation model. The residents association office-bearers said that they don’t have any problems with the corporation if it wants to demolish the bus shelter. But the residents association is firm that the bus shelter is for the public and not for college students only.