THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Capital City Development Forum has urged the Government for a package of schemes to revive the traditional industries in the district. A meeting of the core committee of the forum held here on Friday called on the Government to set up a handloom textile park at Balaramapuram and a National Institute of Fashion Technology.

The forum stressed the need to revive the coir industry in the Chirayinkeezh taluk with the help of the cooperative sector.

It also proposed a plan to revitalise the failing traditional handicrafts industry in the district by organising workers into clusters and providing a permanent marketing outlet at Kovalam or the proposed Habitat Centre at Kowdiar.

Third phase expansion

The meeting urged the Government to expedite the establishment of a Special Economic Zone in the Infosys campus at Technopark. It called for speeding up land acquisition for the third phase expansion of Technopark and organising an IT Expo in the campus.

The committee requested the Government to release 50 cents of land for the construction of a passport office at Pattom. It stressed the need to protect the Vellayani lake as a freshwater resource, clean up the Parvathy Puthanar canal and restore the Kovalam-Kollam waterway.

The Forum appealed to the Government to utilise the land allotted from the Kinfra Park to set up an international film academy. It appealed for immediate steps to complete the Kovalam bypass road and take up the widening of the Parassala-Cherthala road.

Railway electrification

The committee proposed electrification and doubling of the Thiruvananthapuram- Nagercoil rail line and extension of the railway network to Vizhinjam and Nedumangad. The development of bus stations at Eenchakkal and Thampanoor and new terminals at Medical college and Kochuveli is imperative for the improvement of the public transportation system in the city, it observed.

For the health sector, the meeting demanded augmentation of facilities at the TB Sanatorium, Pulayanarkotta and the hospitals at Valaithura and Santhivila. It also underlined the need to set up a heart foundation at the General Hospital and a diabetic centre.

The Forum pointed out that acute shortage of sand in the district could be resolved by removing the accumulated silt from the Peppara dam. "Controlled extraction of sand will enhance the storage capacity of the reservoir and provide a steady supply of sand for the next 10 years," it noted.

Vizhinjam port

The meeting requested the Government to seek an alternative route for the construction of an international container transhipment terminal at Vizhinjam. It proposed direct negotiations with interested parties to avoid the delay in retendering the project.

Cricket stadium

The committee asked the Government to consider providing land on lease to the BCCI for the construction of an international cricket stadium in the district.

It also called on the State to support the Union Government's proposal to convert the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology into a national institute.

Minister for Law M.Vijayakumar presided over the meeting. Mayor C. Jayan Babu, former Mayor J. Chandra, LDF district president Gangadharan Nadar, forum secretary K.T.Roy and political and social leaders participated in the meeting.

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