Villagers of Ganapathipuram near Nagercoil in Kanniyakumari district have commissioned a life-size bronze statue of a philanthropist, who had worked hard for the overall development of the area, and planned to unveil it on Sunday (October 2).
Karungal R. George, member of the executive committee formed to commission the statue, told The Hindu on Saturday: “Irrespective of caste and religion, people have joined together to remember Padmanabhapillai who had put in his efforts for the overall development of the village.”
Though Padmanabhapillai, who was born in 1907, belonged to the Chettiyar community, he donated a piece of land for raising a school under the Travancore rulers in 1948. He helped a large number poor students of different castes and religions.
The statue was commissioned at a cost of Rs. 20 lakh with the help of donations collected from former students of the school and a cross-section of the people, he said. Freedom fighter Kodikkal Sheik Abdullah said Padmanabhapillai had started a school in 1947 when there was no school in a radius of about 10 km.
He had changed the name of the village into Ganapathipuram from Pazhakkadai and was responsible for bringing a government hospital in the village when people were suffering from cholera, malaria and other diseases. He was also responsible for bringing electricity to the village in 1957 and the office of the registrar on a land donated by the public.
Being a Gandhian, he opposed untouchability and facilitated entry of Adi Dravidars into Anna Vinayakar Temple.
