Thiruvananthapuram: The city corporation would set up the first-ever Elders’ Corner – a designated recreation space for elderly – at the renovated Vivekanada Park at Kowdiar, which would be thrown open to the public on Monday. The civic body is planning to set up elder’s corner at all major parks in the state capital. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the Vivekananda Park and the new open air auditorium at the Park at a function to be held on Monday.
Town planning standing committee chairman Palayam Rajan said that the elders’ corner at Vivekananda Park would be ready by March.
“We have set aside `30 lakh in the budget for Elders’ Corner project. There are very fewer avenues for the elderly population in the city. The park at Kowdiar is one place where people of all age groups gather and our aim is to provide some privacy for the elderly crowd who just want to be away from all hustle bustles. We are planning for a LED screen scrolling news and other information from the Corporation. We also plan to provide television,” said Mr Palayam Rajan.
He said that the park was renovated at a cost of `62 lakh. “The open-air auditorium would don the mural paintings and messages of Swami Vivekananda. Messages of Swami Vivekananda would be displayed on the background wall of the auditorium. The auditorium would have a capacity to accommodate around 200 people at a time,” said Mr Palayam Rajan.
He said that the open-air auditorium would be rented out for a fee, which would be fixed by the finance standing committee soon. The park, which was known earlier as Kowdiar Park, was set up in 1982 at the 40 cent land allotted by the Kowdiar Palace. The statue of Swami Viveka-nanda was installed in 2013 and was christened as Vivekananda Garden.
