Kerala - Kozhikode   

Plan to shift KURDFC head office flayed

Special Correspondent

Provides financial aid to local bodies for development

Kozhikode: The business community has opposed the reported move to shift the head office of the Kerala Urban and Rural Development Finance Corporation (KURDFC) from Kozhikode to Thiruvananthapuram. Mayor M. Bhaskaran has urged the Government to shelve its move.

The KURDFC is the lone Government-managed corporation headquartered in the city. The KURDFC, which has been headquartered in Kozhikode for the past 37 years, functions from its own two-storeyed building. It provides financial aid to local bodies for development programmes.

The Malabar Chamber of Commerce (MCC) and the Calicut Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), had sent representations to the Government voicing their protest against the decision.

"We have information from reliable sources that the Government has decided to shift the head office of the KURDFC to Thiruvananthapuram. This is unfair and certain to seen by people in North Kerala as another instance of insensitivity to the development needs of the region," MCC president P. Zakeer said.

Mr. Zakeer alleged that attempts had been made by certain quarters to weaken the corporation and create conditions that would force the KURDFC to base its operations in Thiruvananthapuram.

P.T.S. Unni, CCCI honorary secretary, pointed out in a representation to Minister for Local Administration Paloli Mohammedkutty that the decision of the Government would prove to be a setback to the development efforts being initiated in the region.

The CCCI had been informed that the decision was being contemplated on the basis of a representation to the effect received from the Chairman of Chamber of Municipal Chairmen, the organisation of heads of municipalities.

However, Divakaran, Perinthalmanna municipality chairman who is also the chairman of the Chamber of Municipal Chairmen, told the CCCI that no such request had been made.

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