Kakkanad leads the way

KOCHI: Once a forlorn area, Kakkanad is now among the most sought-after spots in Kochi. That perhaps has been the definitive impact of the change in location, three decades ago, of the Ernakulam district headquarters from the confines of the Kanayannur Taluk Office building to the sprawling office complex at Kakkanad.And 30 years into its existence, having shifted base on November 1, 1981, the collectorate is now the very pulse of Ernakulam.The-then Collector K R Rajan, the driving force behind that historic venture, told Express that the move has paid off handsome dividends. “The basic amenities were almost nil then. There were no bus routes even. But now see the change. Everyone wants a place to live in Kakkanad. It has grown into a place with innumerable opportunities and many facilities,” he said.One of the major improvements that happened was the Seaport - Airport Road. This development became phenomenal in making Kakkanad one of the most sought-after residential areas in the district. “Builders saw it as a place where they could reap many harvests,” said Gil Roy, an employee of the Civil Station for the past twenty-five years. Central Government offices also came under the same roof in Kendriya Bhavan, which was yet another major development, he added. Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL) also followed suit. Today, most of the activities in the city centre round Kakkanad which is a major development hub. Though the people who worked behind it had a vision, they had to encounter a lot of bottlenecks.Rajan said that transferring the collectorate from the city to Kakkanad was not an easy task.  “I still remember the furore over the transfer of the collectorate. None of the employees wanted to shift as Kakkanad lacked basic amenities and to accentuate the trouble, there were hardly any buses plying on the route. Besides, there were hardly any accommodation facilities. All these had to be settled first,” he says.