Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram   

Capital forum plans development convention

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Dec. 2. The Capital City Development Forum will organise a convention of Ministers, MPs, MLAs and civic representatives of Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam districts here on December 7 to discuss the development projects that have to be taken up immediately.

The forum patron, J.Chandra, and the chairman, M.Vijayakumar, told presspersons here today that the convention, to be held at the V.J.T. Hall in the morning, will prepare a charter of demands and would draw up a course of action to secure the demands.

Ministers, MPs, MLAs, Mayors, District Panchayat presidents, municipal chairmen, block and grama panchayat presidents and members of local bodies institutions of the two districts will be invited for the meeting.

The State Government has failed to present before the Centre the project to set up a container transhipment terminal at Vizhinjam, though it was presented at the Global Investment Meet held in Kochi, the alleged and added that Vizhinjam is a natural port and it can be used to the advantage of the nation.

If implemented, the terminal will be one of the major projects to be taken up after the country got Independence. Considering its importance, a delegation led by the Chief Minister, A.K.Antony, should call on the Prime Minister, A.B.Vajpayee, and apprise him of the significance of the project, they said.

Now the ships have to traverse a considerable distance from the Arabian Sea through Sri Lanka to enter the Bay of Bengal. On implementing the `Sethu Samudram' project, Vizhinjam will be one of the major points in the `Sagar Maala' project envisaged by the Central Government, they said.

The Centre has not considered the demand to extend the National Waterway III, which ends at Kollam to Kovalam. This would have helped the transport of goods in the two districts. The State Government should mount pressure on the Centre to extend the waterway in the interest of the State, they said.

The Governments both at the Centre and the State attach top priority to tourism development. No backwater tourism project has been implemented in Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam so far. The State Government should take the lead to make Thiruvananthapuram a heritage city, they said. They urged the Governments to take urgent steps to protect Sasthamcotta and Vellayani lakes.

They also wanted the proposed Sabari rail project to be extended from Pathanamthitta via Punalur and Nedumangad and the Kollam-Virudhanagar meter gauge line to be converted into broad gauge.

The Centre has not accepted the proposal that one of the proposed IITs should be in the capital, they said.

The delay in acquiring three acres of land has impeded the development of the Thiruvanananthapuram airport.

This is the only capital without a High Court bench in the whole country. The capital has not been included in the National Highway Development Project. This is proof of the neglect to the capital, they said.

A reception committee with Prof.Chandra as chairperson and the Deputy Mayor, M. Sujanapriyan, as vice-chairman has been formed for conducting the convention. K.T.Roy is the general convenor and G. Narayanan Nair, joint convenor. Sub-committees have been formed under M.Vijayakumar, Punchakari Ravindran and Channankara Kunju, they said.

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