Parking plaza to come up at Kidson Corner soon

Decision on demolishing Sathram building soon, says Mayor

The Satharam building at Mananchira in the city.

A decision on demolishing Sathram building at Kidson Corner near S.M. Street to facilitate the construction of a modern parking plaza will be taken in a week, Mayor Thottathil Raveendran has said.

He told the corporation council at its meeting here on Thursday that the plan to construct the plaza had been prepared long ago. However, it needs to be revised so that the entire area can be used for vehicle parking.

The plan was prepared in view of the congestion in the area after the Traffic Regulatory Committee banned vehicular traffic on the renovated S.M. Street from January. The permanent bar on vehicles from entering the street had also led to overcrowding around Mananchira Square.

Mr. Raveendran said the new plan would be ready in a week. Earlier, Malabar Mansion, a hotel run by the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation, had been functioning in the building. Hopefully, the construction of the parking plaza will begin shortly, he added.

At the meeting, several councillors raised the issue of the overflowing of Punoorpuzha resulting in floods at Muzhikkal, Pulakkadavu and Chelavoor regions. P.K. Shalini of the CPI(M) said waterlogging had affected several houses, while P. Bijulal, also of the CPI(M), said households had no drinking water for many days. Separate funds should be earmarked to handle such crises, they said.

CPI(M) member Peroth Prakashan said six buses plying on the Medical College-Beypore-Gotheswaram route had suspended services due to lack of parking facilities and adequate room to turn at Gotheswaram. Earlier, the buses used to be parked on a land belonging to a private individual. The space was no longer available, and buses had to be parked at another place at Mahe, which is 2 km away. People have a harrowing time after private buses stopped services, he added.

N.M. Shimna of the CPI(M) raised the issue of waterlogging at Pokkunnu and Kinasseri wards and demanded that the civic body adopt measures to tackle the problem. The Mayor asked the Revenue and Health departments to speedily execute the projects of the Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society.