{"id":18913,"date":"2014-06-07T14:18:11","date_gmt":"2014-06-07T08:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.entecity.com\/?p=18913"},"modified":"2014-06-07T14:20:02","modified_gmt":"2014-06-07T08:50:02","slug":"fight-to-save-an-oasis-the-story-of-attakulangara-central-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entecity.com\/news\/fight-to-save-an-oasis-the-story-of-attakulangara-central-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Fight to Save an Oasis \u2013 The story of Attakulangara Central School"},"content":{"rendered":"

#EnteThiruvananthapuram:<\/strong><\/em> Trees are green lungs, especially for a crowded city that is polluted by automobiles, industries and garbage. Every tree absorbs carbon monoxide and releases oxygen, our life breath.\u00a0 Hundreds of trees in Thiruvananthapuram have been axed in recent years In the name of development.\u00a0 The widening and beautification of the streets, the construction of high-rises and shopping malls have taken its toll on the green canopy of our hometown.<\/p>\n

In the very heart of Thiruvananthapuram, in East Fort where men and vehicles vie for space, there is a school that no one now remembers. The Attakulangara Central High School established in 1889 as the Native School. Most of us are unaware of its existence; but, hidden behind these high walls and huge hoardings, languishes this school with its 5 acres of trees and open space and rundown buildings, the remnants of a declining culture.\u00a0\u00a0 A precious patch of greenery, one of the last oases in the city.<\/p>\n

\"DSCN3046\"<\/p>\n

Once this campus extended up to 2 hectares. Founded in 1889 by Sri Marthandan Thampi, Attakulangara Central school had among its teachers, eminent personalities like the great poet\u00a0 Ulloor Parameswara Iyer, former Chief Minister Pattom Thanu Pillai, social reformer Sahodaran Ayyappan, former Chief Justice of Travancore Sri Padmanabha Kukiliya.<\/p>\n

TRIDA \u2013 Trivandrum Development Authority or Trivandrum Destruction Authority? <\/b><\/p>\n

East Fort is one of the most congested areas in Thiruvananthapuram. Traffic accidents are a regular occurrence here<\/a>. It is essential that this congestion should be eased. The shops evicted from Thakaraparambu area must be rehabilitated.\u00a0\u00a0 But should it be at the cost of these trees and this temple of education?\u00a0\u00a0 TRIDA, in the pretext of solving the traffic congestion and rehabilitation of shops are planning to build a bus bay for 25 buses and a three-storied shopping complex in the Attakulangara School compound that has been given away to them for lease by the state government. Felling the ancient trees and usurping the land would not solve the issue. Unless the bus terminal at East Fort is relocated and the traffic flow is scientifically regulated, the problem will continue unabated. Though there are alternative locations for relocation of the bus terminal, TRIDA has continued to turn a blind eye to the suggestions by Tree Walk, a city-based organization and the Attakulangara School Protection Committee.<\/p>\n

Public opinion has been strongly built up against the proposed development. People from various walks of life; eminent politicians to common people have raised their voice against the proposal. TRIDA is unwilling to even initiate an open discussion or to enter into a dialogue with those voicing their disagreement to the project. It is obvious that the vested interests behind the project have strong support from the ruling party and its cohorts.<\/p>\n

Protect our heritage or sell-out to commerce?<\/b><\/p>\n

\"IMG_7244\"<\/p>\n

Tree Walk, with the assistance of professional architects and town planners submitted detailed alternatives.\u00a0 According to them, It is entirely possible to protect the Attakulangara school compound as well as decongesting traffic and develop modern bus terminals and trader facilities in the city. Among the main components of the alternative plan are i) to build a bus bay\/terminal at the large garbage dump are less that 500 meters away from East Fort, ii) rehabilitate the shops to the area where the KSRTC garage is presently located inside the fort, iii) develop bus terminal at Inchakal where TRIDA has a large plot of land, iv) build skywalk for safe pedestrian crossing in East Fort and v) develop the Attakulangara School compound into a public space with gardens and recreational centres.<\/p>\n

Development or Destruction? <\/b><\/p>\n

The question remains: why follow the current TRIDA plan, that concentrates buses in East\u00a0Fort and destroys a green lung and heritage site instead of developing the extremely viable\u00a0alternatives that reduce congestion, improve bus services, provide excellent new trader\u00a0spaces AND conserve a rare green lung and heritage space in the heart of the city? Cities\u00a0the world over are striving to be greener, and winning awards, acclaim, tourism and\u00a0business from it, gaining happier healthier citizens and cleaner air, why not Trivandrum?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"IMG_7184\"<\/p>\n

It is not going to be a cakewalk for TRIDA. With increasing \u00a0support from the media, the public are now aware of their true intentions. Organisations of school teachers, students and a number of political groups are joining the fight to protect Attakulangara School. Closing down public education institutions because they are not \u2018profitable\u2019 is a dangerous trend that is spreading virally all over Kerala. If only government schools are provided with basic infrastructure and facilities would the children of the common man could aspire for higher education. \u00a0To sell out education to private entrepreneurs and to ravage the remaining green patches in urban areas would be to strangle the very rights of our people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

#EnteThiruvananthapuram: Trees are green lungs, especially for a crowded city that is polluted by automobiles, industries and garbage. Every tree absorbs carbon monoxide and releases oxygen, our life breath.\u00a0 Hundreds of trees in Thiruvananthapuram have been axed in recent years In the name of development.\u00a0 The widening and beautification of the streets, the construction of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,4],"tags":[452],"class_list":["post-18913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-city-news","category-general","tag-trivandrum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entecity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18913"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entecity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entecity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entecity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entecity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entecity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entecity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entecity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entecity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entecity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}