35,000 people still homeless: says Collector

‘No section should feel left out of the growth story’

District Collector K. Mohammed Y. Safirulla

District Collector K. Mohammed Y. Safirulla has stressed the need for inclusive growth in which no segment of the population feels left out of the growth story.

Delivering the inaugural address at the one-day national conference on ‘Infrastructure development in Kerala: issues and prospects’ organised by Chinmaya College of Arts, Commerce and Science here on Friday, Mr. Safirulla said that the issue of inclusive growth was one of the five key challenges to growth.

“There is bound to be resistance when one set of people feels that they have no stake in growth,” observed Mr. Safirulla while pointing out how there were 35,000 homeless and close to 10,000 households without toilets in a district that boasts countless major projects, which were either already under way or in the pipeline.

The Collector also emphasised the need for an alternative development model with less stress on raw materials and natural resources. The greatest challenge to development projects is no longer financial constraints but shortage of raw materials.

Elaborating on infrastructural challenges, Mr. Safirulla said that the shift to public transportation was yet to evolve and hoped that things might improve with the seamless integration of various modes of transportation under the proposed Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority.

Land acquisition

The Collector said that land acquisition had become a challenging task with legal obligations and regulations like social impact assessment and environment clearance required under the recently enforced Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act.

A. Gopalakrishnan, chief sevak, Chinmaya Mission Educational and Cultural Trust, presided, and Swami Viviktananda, regional head of Chinmaya Mission, gave the benedictory address.