The Ernakulam district committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] has asked for the immediate removal of the bund built in the Chilavannoor lake as part of the Padmasarovaram project.
In 2002
According to a statement issued by CPI(M) district secretary C.N. Mohanan, the Padmasarovaram project is one that was envisaged in 2002 by the then LDF-ruled corporation council in its annual budget, and was approved by the council in 2004. Then, it was imagined as a project that would take shape on the section connecting Sahodaran Ayyappan Road with Subhash Chandra Bose Road, requiring acquisition of over 16 acres of land on the western side of the Chilavannoor lake. The proceedings for acquisition were initiated, the statement notes. The ₹50-crore project was to include a walkway, a children’s park, an open air theatre, refreshment centres and an exhibition ground.
‘Flow of water blocked’
But the current cycle track project, to be implemented under the AMRUT scheme, has transformed the initial idea altogether with a bund blocking the natural flow of water, the statement says. This project will lead to waterlogging in the Kaloor, Chilavannoor and Elamkulam areas.
Stating that the project will bring disaster upon the city and that it was a waste of public money, the CPI(M) district secretary has asked the District Collector to stop all possibility of work on the project and demolish the existing bund. The committee has raised a demand for the State to take steps to implement the original project envisaged in 2002.