The lack of adequate parking space for delegates’ vehicles at the main venue proved to be a major dampener on the first day of the Regional International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) that got under way here on Friday.
The five-day fest has the complex housing Saritha, Savitha and Sangeetha theatres as the main venue hosting the organising committee office and delegates’ cell for collection of passes and festival kits.
While entry into the premises of the main venue remains restricted to select vehicles of office-bearers and guests, no alternative space has been provided in the immediate vicinity either. Last year, when the city hosted the IFFK, when it was held in a decentralised manner in multiple cities across the State owing to the pandemic curbs, the spacious campus of St. Albert’s High School in the immediate neighbourhood was made available for parking, which was not the case this time around.
Delegates who drove into the campus were turned away by security guards. “We had tried hard to make the campus available as parking space. But the management could not permit it, as it happened to be an exam paper valuation centre. There was no alternative parking space in the neighbourhood either,” said Shibu Chakravarthy, general convener of the organising committee for the Regional IFFK.
With whatever little space around the venue already chock-a-block with parked vehicles, a majority of delegates had to keep going in circles around the busy Banerjee Road to find a parking space that proved elusive. Delegates who tried to park vehicles in front of shops were shooed away by traders citing that the spaces were meant for their customers. Left with little option, they were forced to squeeze their vehicles even into narrow by-lanes.
Asked about the hardship faced by the delegates, Mayor M. Anilkumar said the corporation could not actively involve itself in preparations for the festival unlike last year owing to hectic year-end work.
Daniel, a delegate, fumed that he had to park his vehicle in a pay-and-park facility some 200 metres away from the venue and that too after navigating through the busy road multiple times.
Interestingly, while a board of Regional IFFK was placed outside the facility, no arrangements were made for parking. “Many drive in assuming it to be a parking space for the IFFK, and it leads to arguments when we say that they have to pay,” said a security guard.
