Goshree Islanders, under the aegis of Goshree Manushyavakasa Samrakshana Samithi, will lead a signature campaign to press their long-term demand for extension of bus services from Vypeen to Ernakulam city. The islanders are demanding that the buses that are now stopped from entering the city and come only up to High Court Junction be allowed into the city.
“Allowing the buses from Vypeen to enter the city will facilitate the smooth movement of passengers from the islands to Ernakulam and other places,” said Paul J. Mampilly, chairman of the Samithi. He inaugurated a protest meeting at High Court Junction on Thursday during which the islanders also collected signatures for a mass petition to the Chief Minister, the Transport Minister and the District Collector.
Aravindakshan B. Thacheri and Majnu Komath were among the leaders of the Samithi who spoke at the protest meeting organised on Thursday.
Around 6,000 signatures were collected on Thursday and the campaign will continue to get more islanders to sign the petition.
The leaders of the islanders said that the government had promised the people that buses from Vypeen would be allowed into the city on the occasion of the inauguration of Goshree bridges in 2004.
However, the promise had not been kept. The islanders conceded that an intervention by the State government had resulted in 22 Thirukochi buses belonging to the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation making their way into Ernakulam from Vypeen.
The islanders gathered at High Court Junction on Thursday to mark the second phase of their protest as the authorities had promised them that the buses from Vypeen would be allowed into the city after the work on the Kochi metro rail project was completed.
The leaders pointed out that if the islanders had to access the Kochi metro rail services, they had to get into a bus from the High Court Junction as the buses from the island are not allowed into the city.
