Former civil servant P.C. Cyriac, who is an active campaigner of the Anti-Corruption People’s Movement and who had contested to the Kochi Corporation in 2010 (losing by a slender margin), spoke of how the civic agency operates in a cumbersome manner and is shackled by a complex web of procedures. “The Movement had submitted to the Mayor a list of recommendations on how to simplify procedures, which will in turn lessen work load of officials. But little has been done, despite emphasis on Right to Services.”
Referring to the Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) gearing up to modernise Kochi’s water transport system through a Rs.819-crore initiative, he said the Corporation could have spearheaded the project years ago since lakhs of people live in West Kochi and the islands around Kochi.
Mr. Cyriac said the civic agency had done nothing to ensure pedestrian-friendly footpaths and to weed out encroachers who obstruct free and safe movement of commuters and vehicles. He called for an apolitical approach to development.
— Staff Reporter
