It seems some investors are tripping on the ‘red carpet’ laid out by the Oommen Chandy government.
A Malayali expatriate from the United States at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, who has been here since the Emerging Kerala investors’ summit meet, recounted how he has been ping-ponged around the official corridors despite having a business idea beneficial to the State.
His proposal to adopt Western technology for a project for literacy-related project was yet to take off because of the alleged apathy of the officials despite importing state-of-the-art hardware and software.
His poser to the Chief Minister was: can the government ensure support to people like him who otherwise don’t want to waste their time and hard earned money here? And Mr. Chandy agreed to look into his complaint.
Alex, another expatriate from the US, was agitated over what he saw as the hijacking of sessions by NRIs from the Middle East and sarcastically hailed the Malayali ministers from the Centre and the State for this. He complained that 500-odd delegates from the US and other parts of the world except the Middle East have been left mute spectators. This led to a brief spat between the speaker and some delegates from the Middle East.
Basheer, an expatriate from Riyadh, wanted the Norka Roots to encourage collective initiative for the rehabilitation of expatriates at the village level. He drew attention to an initiative launched in his home village in Pandikkad. They have bought 3.5 acres through contributions from expatriates based in Riyadh.
Gopakumar from Kuwait proposed a super-specialty not-for-profit hospital dedicated exclusively to expatriates and their family members.
He suggested the proposed hospital to be run in the model of ESI Hospitals by either the State or the Union government.
