THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: On March 9, lakhs of women will converge on Attukal for the annual festival spread over 10 days. Yet, the much-hyped Attukal Development Plan, which aimed at providing better amenities for the devotees arriving in the capital city for the pongala, has failed to take off.
Four years ago, the Trivandrum Development Authority (TRIDA) submitted the master plan for the Attukal Township Project which proposed a pilgrim sub-centre in the 50-acre land adjacent to the Attukal temple. The main objective was to minimise the pongala spread and provide all infrastructure and amenities at the pilgrim centre.
Former Devaswom Minister and MLA V S Sivakumar lashed out at the apathy of the ruling party. He alleged that the government has derailed the township project. “In the past four years, no solid efforts were made to implement the project. I raised the matter in the assembly and I was told that a Rs 28 crore worth of initiative under KIIFB (Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board) was being developed for the scheme. But there is no such initiative,” he said.
An official with KIIFB confirmed that there was no allotment or project under KIIFB for the Attukal region. In 2018, Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran relaunched the Attukal Development Plan and announced Rs 10 crore for its implementation. However, it remains on the back-burner.
An official with the Town and Country Planning Department said that TRIDA has handed over the master plan to them. The official said the project is ongoing and they will require more time to finalise the details. “We received the plan a few weeks ago from TRIDA. We need more specific details on the components proposed in the master plan to prepare the detailed town planning scheme for the project. Some parts of the proposed 50-acre land are paddy fields and as per the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act, 2008, they are not to be converted for other purposes. The plan comprises 15 structures including two auditoriums,” said the official.
Annadana Mandapam, three steel bridges across the Killiyar and bigger footpaths are some of the components in the project. Now, with only two weeks left for Attukal Pongala, the authorities have released around Rs 2.77 crore for emergency work to ensure the smooth conduct of the festival. Allegations are rife that the allotment is less compared to previous years. Councillor V Giri of Kamaleswaram, one of the wards close to the Attukal temple, said during UDF government’s tenure, they used to allot Rs 5 crore for emergency work in the festival zone. Around 29 wards under the corporation are part of the Attukal Township Project.
much-hyped