LDF prepares Nileshwar for takeoff but has little to show on ground
KASARAGOD: Nileshwar, the youngest municipality in Kasaragod, came into being in 2010. The CPM-led LDF has been at the helm the decade before 2010, when Nileshwar was a panchayat, and the decade after.
"If a person who left Nileshwar 20 years ago returns now, he will find no difference except for the railway overbridge at the Rajah's Road," says Eruvat Mohanan, Congress councillor, who was the president of Nileshwar when it was a panchayat.
A businessman, who runs a supermarket in the town, partially agrees with the councillor. "The only change is that the municipality has demolished the dilapidated commercial complex in Nileshwar bus stand. But the new complex has not come up," he said.
"Having said that," the same businessman adds, "irrespective of whoever wins the municipal election, Nileshwar will see a massive change in the next five years."
Nileshwar municipality -- blessed with two rivers and a sea -- has an annual income of just Rs 2.5 crore. For the past several years it has not seen a substantial increase in its income.
"I will hold the municipality guilty of not doing enough to increase its income. To increase income, it has to support businesses to develop commercial infrastructure and tap the tourism potential of the municipality. It failed in both," said another businessman.
Though neighbouring Cheruvathur panchayat has a smaller marketplace, it has movie theatres and car showrooms, and bigger electronics shops, he said.
"Nileshwar is a municipality but has no theatre," he said.
A builder said the municipality officials brought in police and stopped the construction work of his multi-storey shopping complex though he had a construction permit and a favourable order from the land tribunal. His plot comes in CRZ-3.
V Gouri, who was the first chairperson of the municipality and the vice-chairperson in the last term, said half of the wards of the town come under CRZ-3 or classified as wetland in the old land bank.
"It is changing. Most of the places are being renotified as CRZ-2, which allows for permanent construction," she said.
"We will see a construction boom in the next term," she said.
One of the biggest poll promises of the LDF was the widening of the Rajah's road -- the commercial hub of the town. It has not materialised, said Congress leader Eruvat Mohanan.
Another ambitious road project -- Nedunkanda Valavu to Kacherykadav with a bridge -- is only on paper, he said.
Not because chairman K P Jayarajan did not try, he said. "Rs 20 crore was set aside for widening Rajah's road. He went to Thiruvananthapuram several times. But the government is not clearing the project because of the inner politics of the CPM," he said.
Mohanan said Nileshwar is called the cultural capital of the district but does not have an open theatre or ground to organise a programme.
"The town square has also not been developed," he said.
Looking ahead
Chairman Jayarajan said the Rajah's road will be widened to 14 m from eight to 12 metres now. "Around 2.5 acres have to be acquired and the traders have agreed to sell the land. The file is pending technical sanction. If not for corona, the work would have started," said Jayarajan.
The municipality has focused on hospital buildings and schools, even a stadium has come up. He said the municipality has taken possession of around five acres of encroached revenue land.
"We have initiated a lot of projects for sustainable development. The neutral voters will accept them," he said.
Both fronts bet on neutral voters
In the 32-ward Nileshwar municipality, the LDF won 19 wards and the UDF won 13 wards.
The UDF said it would win at least 17 wards this election. Its hope lies in the fact that in at least five wards, the victory margin of the LDF is less than 50 votes. "In the five wards the LDF has a total lead of only 290 votes," said Mohanan.
But Jayarajan said the UDF too had won two wards by a margin of six votes and 26 votes last time. "We will see similar margins this time too but the LDF will retain its wards and win a few more," he said.