The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : City development: NGOs put pressure on Chandy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 03, 2004

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

City development: NGOs put pressure on Chandy

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, NOV. 2 . The State-level action plan announced by the Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy, to expedite development projects has triggered a flurry of demands from city-based NGOs to activate various priority initiatives for the development of the capital.

Proposed package

The Environment and Development Initiatives for Thiruvananthapuram (EDIT) has proposed a package to be included in the plan.

In a memorandum to the Chief Minister, the EDIT urged him to appoint a special officer to expedite the work of setting up a High Court Bench in the capital city.

It urged the Government to acquire land for the proposed biotechnology park and provide funds for a land bank mooted by the Thiruvananthapuram Development Authority.

Tourist master plan

The memorandum also highlighted the need for a tourist master plan to promote projects linking potential tourist spots like beaches, backwaters, forests and hills in and around the city. It demanded a time-bound plan to improve the public transportation system by introducing mini buses on narrow roads and relocating the city depot from East Fort.

In the health sector, the package proposed a taluk hospital for the coastal areas and steps to elevate the General Hospital to a super-speciality hospital. It demanded immediate steps to set up the proposed Heart Foundation and accelerate the work on the Diabetic Centre.

Ayurveda University

The EDIT urged the Chief Minister to seek Central assistance to set up an export zone for medicinal herbs. Another major proposal was to allot 50 acres of land from the campus of the University of Kerala to start an Ayurveda University in the capital.

The EDIT also appealed to the Government to set up a veterinary and dairy management institute as a professional college in the cooperative sector and constitute an expert committee to check pollution of the Karamana river.

The memorandum urged the Government to set up an international deepwater container transhipment terminal at Vizhinjam and commence work on the proposed Thiruvananthapuram- Ambasamudram-Tirunelveli road.

List of demands

The City Development Committee headed by the former MP, V.S. Sivakumar, submitted a list of demands to the Chief Minister requesting him to prioritise the development of the capital region.

The list was handed over at a function held at the DCC office in connection with the mass contact programme of the Chief Minister.

Noting that the development projects initiated by the UDF Government had failed to move forward, the memorandum urged Mr. Chandy to declare a schedule for implementation.

The priority projects identified by the committee included the Kazhakuttam-Inchivila bypass road, the container terminal at Vizhinjam, development of the airport, setting up of a High Court Bench, flood control measures at Thampanoor and East Fort, augmentation of water supply network and steps to set up a railway zone in Thiruvananthapuram.

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