The contentious issue of lorry parking on South Beach, which has caused a lot of uproar in the Kozhikode Corporation Council for the past few years, was once again the focus of discussions in the council meeting on Friday. CPI(M) councillor V.T. Sathyan, who brought up the issue through an adjournment motion, said the issue was yet to be resolved despite several assurances and attempts in the past.
Mr. Sathyan said that the corporation’s attempts to move the lorry parking to another location, after a series of accidents and allegations of shady deals in the parking area, had failed, and hence, there was a need to revisit the issue.
He said that the lorries were now parked below the flyovers in Thondayad and Ramanattukara for want of parking space.
Mayor Thottathil Raveendran said that the parking facility for lorries on the land that belonged to the Ports Department would be reopened soon. The enclosed compound could accommodate around 60 lorries at a time, he said.
However, many councillors challenged the statement on the ground that the corporation had earlier decided not to allow lorry parking on the South Beach, to which the Mayor answered that the decision was only not to allow parking on the roadside on the beach.
CPI(M) councillor M.M. Padmavathi and Congress councillor K.C. Shobhitha brought in the issue of frequent bursts of water pipelines, leading to severe water scarcity in some parts of the city. Ms. Padmavathi demanded an alternative mechanism for the present network of water pipelines which was half a century old. The Mayor said that he would bring the issue to the notice of the Minister for Water Resources. The motion proposed by Congress councillor P.Ushadevi demanding a repeat inquiry into the Walayar case was shot down by the Mayor on the ground that the issue did not hold relevance at the point. LJD councillor Thomas Mathew mooted the need for an international stadium in Kozhikode in view of the rising popularity of the city among sports teams.
