Do YOU know when the Kochi Corporation last expanded their limits ? 

If you don't, be ready to be surprised. It has been almost 53 years since the corporation have redrawn their boundaries. 

It was on November 1st, 1967 that Kochi Corporation was formed annexing the erstwhile municipalities of Fort Kochi, Mattanchery and Ernakulam as well as Vytilla and Edappally panchayaths. Since then, no one has cared to change those limits despite the city growing leaps and bounds. 

As a result today, the actual city of Kochi has as many as 6 rich municipalities surrounding the corporation. Kochi Metropolitan area, which encloses around 9 times more area than the 53 year old corporation limits, has a whopping 9 municipalities. The usual practise for growing cities in India is that the corporations annex nearby panchayats when they begin to show an urban characteristic in tune with the city. However certain lobbies have prevented the same for Kochi corporation, leading to its surrounding areas becoming extremely urbanised but administrated by municipalities and panchayats. 

In fact the 2011 census revealed that these surrounding 6 municipalities had a higher population growth rate than the corporation in the 2001-11 period. Those figures may even rise further in the 2021 census and it makes sense too, once you know the amount of Kochi based institutions in these areas. The 2011 census revealed that the corporation with an area of just 95 km2 (only the fourth largest in Kerala, believe it or not) had only a population of 6 lakhs (only 2nd most in Kerala, again believe it or not), while the metropolitan area (Urban Agglomeration - UA) had a population of 21 lakhs (17th most populous in India and the most populous in Kerala). The Kerala Govt classifies Kochi UA as the only first class UA in the state, which has its effects spanning the entire state and not just a part of it.

If you still haven't gotten an idea of how small and outdated the corporation limits are, then understand that the likes of Lulu Mall Kochi (at the heart of the city and at the northern end of the next Central Business District of Kochi - the current so called "bypass"), Infopark Kochi, Smartcity Kochi, both the Passport Seva Kendras of Kochi, BPCL Kochi refineries, Startup complex Kochi, DP world Kochi, 49% length of Kochi Metro phase 1 (76% of phase 2 and 100% of phase 3), LNG/LPG Terminals Kochi, Cochin SEZ and so many more, actually lie outside these corporation limits in discussion. 

How does this adversely affect our city ? 

It does in numerous ways : 

1) Only a paltry amount of the revenue generated by the entire city goes to the corporation since the corporation only holds a small part of it (1/4th of Kochi City Region and 1/8th of the metropolitan area). This handicaps the functioning of the corporation in a big way and it is showing as well, with the corporation not being able to do one simple thing right for the past few decades.

2) By confining the corporation to encompass only a small portion of the population of the actual city, it is now eligible only for that much lesser funds from the various levels of Government, be it state or center. Metropolitan authorities get huge funds, while corporations coming in the 0.5-1 million slab only get a small bite. Why should we reduce the potential funds that the corporation should get, by confining it to a small area of the actual city ?

3) On the other hand the surrounding municipalities get a huge revenue but aren't bound to give the facilities required to suffice the demands of city areas they govern. After all, a municipality is meant to govern a town, not a part of a city, as per convention. The effects of this point is widely visible, as all these 6 municipalities adjacent to the corporation are in the list of the most revenue generating municipalities in the state, with Kalamassery municipality (housing Lulu mall, numerous hotels, showrooms and offices as well) topping the list (ahead of rich towns like Kottayam, Thiruvalla, Palakkad, etc etc).

4) Pan-city projects are immensely tough to implement in this scenario, and that includes city wide road improvement projects and basic infrastructure facilities like proper lighting, footpaths, toilets, and other basic amenities required for a city. It is the responsibility of the local bodies to maintain, and propose new infrastructure projects which are less likely to be noticed by higher authorities and governments, like it happened for metro. However municipalities have their limits and for instance, cannot propose their own flyovers due to low funds allotted to them.

5) Projects coming under AMRUT and Smart cities Mission schemes cannot benefit the entire city. Since these schemes are confined to their corresponding city corporation limits, no projects under it can affect the IT hubs or most part of Kochi city, since the corporation limits are small and outdated. A big example of this is the IC4 and smart signals project being implemented in Kochi by Cochin Smart cities Mission Limited (CSML). Due to the small limits, these valuable projects cannot be implemented in approximately 75% of the city area. What benefit does it do to Kochi then ?

6) There's a saying : 'Too many cooks spoil the broth'. This does come into play in the case of Kochi, which is a city governed by 6-7 municipalities, 5-6 panchayats and an incapable, resource-starved corporation. This will be a bigger headache in the coming days as Kochi is set to get a Metropolitan Transport Authority to overlook the transportation systems all across Greater Kochi (Kochi Metropolitan Area), with it having to discuss with a bucket-full of local self governing bodies to make a seemingly simple decision.

What are the advantages if Kochi gets a corporation rightly representing the entire city and a metropolitan authority ?

1) Eligibility for more funds 

2) Much more revenue sources 

3) More accountability

4) Capability of proposing pan-city projects

5) Uniform roadways and infrastructure across the city

6) More co-operation with city organisations like the Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL), upcoming Kochi Metropolitan Transport Authority (KMTA), District administration, etc

7) Metropolitan Authority overcomes the disadvantages of bodies like Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) which really do not have power to take up massive projects all by themselves. 

It was in 2012 that the then UDF government in Kerala had proposed to expand the Greater Kochi limits so as to form a powerful and independent Metropolitan Authority for Kochi, encompassing more than 40 lakh population. Even that failed to see daylight with oppositions coming from local corners as well.

Whoever is behind all this, one should accept that the lobby is pretty powerful so as to confine a corporation to the same limits for over half a century, especially in a city which is making its bypass its Central Business District within a matter of two decades. Thus, each and every responsible Kochi-ite (not just one among the 6 lakh inside the outdated corporation limits, but among the projected 30 lakh people in Kochi UA as of 2020) must wake up to this challenge and utilise the power we have as citizens of the world's largest democracy, and voice against the apathy and injustice shown towards our city. Thus, please sign this petition and take the small step towards ensuring justice for our city.