A meeting of all the departments concerned with resolving the issue related to ownership of the land near the Ernakulam Boat Jetty will be convened soon. The Chief Minister will be present at the meeting to be held at Thiruvananthapuram, said A.P. Anil Kumar, Minister for Tourism.
He was interacting with the media after visiting the Ernakulam Boat Jetty. The development of the jetty has been hampered after the Revenue Department failed to hand over the land to Department of Tourism, even though a decision to that effect was made back in 2009.
The Department of Tourism has also drawn out a detailed plan to renovate tourism spots across the State and as part of this the stretch between High Court jetty and Hotel Gateway jetty will be beautified. As this is a major project and expected to take some time for implementation, a couple of temporary jetties will be constructed immediately. The decision was taken at a meeting of tourism officials held recently, Mr. Anil Kumar said.
Hibi Eden, MLA, who raised the issue of inadequacies at the boat jetty, was present to brief the Minister and take him around during the visit on Friday.
Lack of manpower
Mr. Anil Kumar, while inaugurating the new Naturalist Interpreter course offered by the Kerala Institute of Travel and Tourism Studies at the Bolgatty Palace here on Thursday, said that KITTS could address the shortage of manpower in tourism sector. The new course is meant to introduce eco-tourism for foreign travellers in a scientific manner. The two-month course is being planned as a residential programme.
Thirty-two persons, including seven women, from Thekkady and Thenmala ecotourism sectors have been selected for the first batch of the programme.
