Kochi: The Kochi Metro Rail Corporation has set up a slew of new sign boards at vantage points in the city as part of its corporate social responsibility.
Although the sign boards were appreciated for better display, the entire exercise appears to be a wasted effort as most of the boards were erected in the place of the existing ones put up by the city corporation. The effort was sheer duplication of work and waste of money, say city dwellers.
Most of the sign boards in the city are placed in an unscientific manner without taking into account the needs of the people driving the vehicle and pedestrians. Most sign boards are dwarfed by huge hoardings and other publicity materials. Although the sign boards installed by the KMRL look better in terms of display, I feel they were wasted. I don’t think that any serious efforts were made to find the places that required such sign boards and the proper ways of displaying them. If the KMRL was having funds under the corporate social responsibility, it could have easily set up proper and quality bus shelters in many busy junctions. Many of the busy spots such as Palarivattom, Edappally and Menaka lack proper bus shelters. The CSR fund should be used for such projects that will have a meaningful impact on the life of the city dwellers. — Jyoti Narayanan, A social activist and engineer:
The KMRL should not have wasted so much money from its CSR accounts for this purpose. It should have invited various agencies of the city administration and civil society organisations before finalising the CSR projects. In my opinion, the KMRL should give priority for refurbishing the dilapidated inner city roads in the city. Such works can be undertaken with the funds available under the CSR. — Jacob Lazar, Human Rights Activist
Setting up duplicate sign boards, though having better display, is absolutely a waste of money. This is just another instance of the lack of co-ordination between various agencies. Usually, we witness such clumsiness in road works with one agency repairing the road and another digging it a week after.
With regard to KMRL, they could have used the money allotted under the corporate responsibility to give a fresh coat to sign boards, zebra crossings and setting up of pedestrian path instead of putting up another sign board alongside the one already put up by the corporation. — Ranganatha Prabhu President, Ernakulam District Residents Association Apex Council (EDRAAC)
