With no staff and no guests, ‘She Lodges’ in Cochin fail to impress

KOCHI: 'She Lodges', a project set up to provide safe and affordable accommodation for women travellers, is yet to gather steam. Of the three lodges inaugurated in the district, only one is operational. The two non-operational She Lodges are the ones operating near Ernakulam North Railway Station and in Muvattupuzha.

Though the former was inaugurated by the Local Self-Government Minister MB Ragesh in October 2022, it is yet to open its doors to the public. The facility, which boasts 95 ready-to-occupy rooms, does not even have a single staff yet.

On enquiring about the delay, TNIE learnt that the district administration is still deliberating on the matter of who actually runs the establishment.

“Earlier, it was decided to entrust the lodge’s management to a Kudumbashree unit. However, there was a change of plan. Now, the Corporation is conducting interviews to appoint staff,” Kochi Corporation Mayor M Anilkumar said.

“Besides this, there is the matter of laying out the guidelines of the lodge. The Council had met two weeks ago regarding this,” the mayor added. Sheeba Lal, the Welfare committee chairperson of Cochin Corporation, assured that the lodge will begin operations in two weeks. “We will be appointing the staff shortly after the next Council meeting,” the councillor said.

She also added that the Corporation will seek Kudumbashree’s support for the smooth running of the lodge. The case is even more dire in Muvattupuzha. Though the inauguration took place in 2020, the She Lodge here has not started operations yet.

“The construction work was not finished when the inauguration took place. It was only wrapped up recently,” clarified Eldhose P P, the Muvattupuzha municipal corporation chairman. “Now, we have invited tenders from Kudumbashree units for managing the lodge. It will be opened soon,” Eldhose added. The sole She Lodge that’s operational in the district is in Tripunithura.

It was earlier reported that rooms at She Lodges will be available at a daily tariff of Rs 150.The dire state of She Lodges is quite evident. In comparison, SheStays, a string of similar accommodations for women travellers by the Kerala State Women’s Development Corporation, is in full swing. “There are two SheStays in Ernakulam - at Gandhinagar and Thrikkakara, and 7 others across the state. All of them are functioning smoothly,” said Asha D, project manager of SheStays.