Manaveeyam Veedhi to be capital city’s first nightlife destination

Thiruvananthapuram Corp. plans to initiate a nightlife project on Manaveeyam Veedhi from Oct. 30. Food trucks, stalls, events & illumination will be part of the project. IT corridor & Kanakakunnu Palace are also being considered for nightlife tourism. Public response will decide the project's future.

Yet another effort is being made to bring about a semblance of night life in the city, with the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation planning to initiate a nightlife project on Manaveeyam Veedhi on an experimental basis from October 30.

As part of this, the stretch will be closed for traffic from 7.30 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily. The civic body chose Manaveeyam Veedhi, the city’s cultural corridor, for the project as it has been turning out to be a popular hangout for youngsters ever since it was reopened recently after partial completion of the renovation work. The remaining civil works on the stretch are expected to be completed by October 25.

Mayor Arya Rajendran has recently chaired a meeting to discuss the plan. Three mobile food vending trucks will function through the night. Tender proceedings will be initiated to choose the contractors to run these food trucks. The Corporation and the District Tourism Promotion Council will jointly run the portal, through which requests for organising various events can be submitted.

While non-commercial events can be organised free of cost, a nominal fee will be implemented for commercial events. The stalls which have been constructed as part of the renovation work will be handed over to Kudumbashree. The Corporation authorities will hold discussions with the representatives of various socio-cultural groups ahead of the project implementation. The project will be implemented on a pilot basis, and will be extended to other possible areas based on the public response.

The Tourism department as well as the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation have been over the past couple of years actively considering various locations to initiate the night life project in the capital city, which till recently had a reputation for shutting off early. However, the positive public response in the past couple of years to street-side illumination during the Christmas and Onam seasons even past midnight had made the authorities take up the project with renewed vigour.

The Kowdiar-Pattom stretch, along which a large number of popular eateries have come up in recent years, has also been under consideration, but the residents’ associations in this region have not warmed to the idea. The IT corridor along the Kazhakuttam-Lulu Mall stretch has also been considered. Meanwhile, the Tourism department is developing the Kanakakunnu Palace premises as a possible location for nightlife tourism in the capital.