The traffic woes of commuters and traders in Nedumangad
will subside if the municipality succeeds in its effort to retrieve a
piece of their land originally meant for constructing a parking lot,
from the local police.

At a recent council meeting,
the civic body decided to take all efforts to get back around one acre
of its land now being used by the Nedumangad police to park seized
vehicles. Municipal Chairperson Lekha Suresh told
The Hindu
that the civic body bought the land in 2004. By the time tenders were
floated to select the agent to operate the parking place, the police
started using the area for dumping seized vehicles, she said.

“Efforts
were made to persuade the police to not use the place but they
continued to occupy the area. Last week, the council passed a resolution
authorising the municipality to retrieve the land. Two days ago, we
handed over copies of the resolution to the state Police Chief and other
officers concerned. We urged them to return the land at the earliest,”
she said. The Nedumangad town faced a crunch of parking space. The only
solution was to provide a separate place to park vehicles and, the
council had recently sanctioned Rs.13 lakh to set up a parking lot, she
said.