A few political parties have red-flagged the construction of a park by the Kochi Corporation near the Chilavannur lake at Janatha near Vyttila, claiming that the strip of land on which the park is being built — between a flat complex and the eastern banks of the lake — should ideally be restored to its original state.
The Bharat Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) has submitted a written complaint to the Poonithura village officer seeking probe into the matter.
According to the complaint filed by Satheeshan C. of the BDJS, the government took over around 80 cents of encroached land from the housing project. This was in turn handed over to the corporation. It is on this “encroached land” that the corporation is building a park. The complaint sought immediate stoppage of work and restoration of the land to its original state.
“Work on the park began when the late M. Premachandran was councillor. However, we had resisted dumping of additional soil following which work was stopped,” Mr. Satheeshan said. Now, the construction of the ₹1.26-crore park (slated for completion in late June and comprising seating areas overlooking the waterbody, children’s play equipment, a small open air stage, and a footpath) has been resumed. The park is being built for the corporation by Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) and comes under the Centrally-funded Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut) scheme.
Incidentally, another Amrut project on Chilavannur lake (a cycle track and walkway) was recently put on hold due to lack of permission from the Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority. The land on which the park is being built belongs to the corporation, and permit should be given by the corporation only, claimed a KMRL official. No other construction work will be involved, for the corporation had built a retaining wall adjoining the backwaters just two weeks ago, and hence a CRZ permit will not be necessary, he added.
While Mayor Soumini Jain was unavailable for comment, Deputy Mayor T.J. Vinod said he would not be able to comment until he examined the details.
On whether the area could be restored to its original state, Siju Kumar T.K., urban infrastructure expert (City Mission Management Unit, Amrut-Kerala) asked why the area alone should be restored when there were several other instances of encroachments. “In that case, all encroachments on that row should be removed,” he said.
As part of the project, a stream that empties into the lake’s eastern banks adjoining the area has already been covered with slabs, supposedly to double as walkway for the public, alleged Foji John of the Aam Aadmi Party and Mukesh M. of the BJP.
“We are not against development, but it should not be at the cost of the environment,” Mr. John said.
