Kerala - Kochi   

Marine Drive walkway in ruins

KOCHI: The condition of the Marine Drive walkway is deteriorating as days go by, for want of proper upkeep.

The walkway was once a vibrant place, an ideal place for families and tourists to relax and take a stroll. Despite the walkway being among the few public places in the city to unwind, the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA), which owns the stretch, has been unable to maintain it.

Scary is the condition of the walkway after fall of dusk. People can be seen urinating along the sides of the entrances from both the northern and southern sides, a definite turn off to visitors. Both the entrances are not lit and are full of stones and slush. Construction materials are dumped on one side, posing danger to the people.

The walkway has become a haven for anti-social elements. People have to be on the watch-out for drunken youth who create an artificial crowd and misbehave with women. Youth can be seen sipping liquor laced with soft-drinks in plastic bottles. Very often, the police are not seen anywhere in the vicinity of the walkway or the adjacent ground.

Apart from the stench, visitors have to put up with garbage dumped on the walkway by shopkeepers and others. Many shops continue to dump their waste into the backwaters, turning the waterbody into an eyesore. The wooden benches laid a year ago, have all broken down. Their planks have been bundled together in a corner. The portion between the Rainbow bridge and Cheenavala bridge, which had been surfaced with tiles using Central tourism funds worth Rs.90 lakh, is the worst-maintained. The tiles are missing in many portions.

The situation is a little better in the Royal musical walkway. But many of the lights do not function and anti-social elements have broken the planks of many benches and written ‘messages’ all over. The plants too are not well tended to.

Taking note of the GCDA’s inability to maintain the stretch, the State government had asked the agency to hand over the walkway to the District Tourism Promotion Council, a month ago. But the authority has so far been reluctant to do so.

Its Chairperson M.C. Josephine said the agency would come up with a proposal to improve the walkway and the adjacent Marine Drive Ground.

A suggestion to involve shop owners and boat operators in the upkeep of the walkway has not materialised so far.

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