Make Thiruvananthapuram IT capital of State: Mayor

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JULY 10. The Mayor, Prof.J.Chandra, and the former Speaker, M.Vijayakumar, have demanded the Government to develop the 22-km Kazhakuttom-Kovalam stretch as the IT corridor and declare Thiruvananthapuram the IT capital of the State.

Prof.Chandra and Mr.Vijayakumar told presspersons here today that they had met the Chief Minister, Mr.A.K.Antony, and apprised him of various developmental works to be carried out in Thiruvananthapuram soon. Being close to the Regional Research Laboratory. VSSC, Engineering College, and host of other institutions including the Technopark, this stretch should be developed immediately, he said.

They wanted the Government to make budgetary allocation for developing the stretch. Mr.Vijayakumar alleged that the development of the Thiruvananthapuram international airport was moving at a snail's pace.

The Government had approved the report submitted by the representatives of the State and Central Governments, Airports Authority of India for the development of the airport. The committee recommended to draw Rs.90 crores from financial institutions to construct the new terminal. The Civil Aviation Minister, Mr.Sharad Yadav, had inaugurated the work on June 11, 2000, they said.

Mr.Vijayakumar alleged that there was no follow up for the development works initiated by the LDF Government. The new Government could not even secure the in principle clearance so far. The Government should take steps to get the clearance, he said. Thiruvananthapuram airport should be declared as the international gateway of South India.

They wanted the Government to make budgetary allocation of Rs.13.5 crores for developing the airport. Mr.Vijayakumar took strong exception to the Tourism Minister, Prof.K.V.Thomas' statement that there was no one to take up the developmental issues of Thiruvananthapuram. Mr.Antony is a voter of the capital. The Co-operation Minister, Mr.M.V.Raghavan, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr.M.M.Hassan, and the Food and Civil Supplies Minister, Mr.G.Karthikeyan too represent the capital. He wondered why they could not take up the developmental issues of the capital. Mr.Antony has agreed to hold a high-level conference to discuss the developmental issues, he said.

The Mayor disagreed with Mr.Raghavan's statement that Thiruvananthapuram was an unclean city. The city was much better than Delhi. Since the corporation owes Rs.4 crores to the contractors and none of them are willing to take up any work. The corporation has to get Rs.1.10 crores as vehicle tax compensation, the Kerala Water Authority Rs.2 crores, the railways Rs.1.10 crores and the military camp, Rs.88 lakhs.

The Plan allocation for the corporation has been reduced to Rs.20 crores of which the first installment will be only Rs.5 crores. Still the corporation would take steps to do the maintenance of the city roads. The Mayor assured that she would look into the allegation about under-assessment of the flats constructed near AKG Centre.

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