The City Corporation Council on Tuesday unanimously urged the Centre and the State government to restore the State Haj camp and embarkation point to the Calicut International Airport.
A meeting of the council chaired by Mayor Thottathil Ravindran adopted a resolution to this effect. Janata Dal (United) member Thomas Mathew moved the resolution through an adjournment motion. The CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front, the Congress-Indian Union Muslim League-JD(U) combine and the BJP supported the resolution.
The airport at Karipur, which had been the sole embarkation point for Haj pilgrims from Kerala and Lakshadweep since 2010, lost out to the Cochin International Airport after it was partially closed for repairs in June, 2015.
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Through a calling attention motion, JD(U) member Jayasree Keerthi rasied the issue of the unmotorable condition of the roads at S.M. Street and Thazha Palayam roads. The Mayor asked the corporation officials to take immediate steps to repair these roads.
Councillors Jisha Gireesh (BJP) and K. Saranya (Congress) raised the issue of street lights not burning in different parts of the city, while Cheral Prameela (CPI-M) demanded that the civic body check the samples of the water distributed by private agencies. The Mayor said steps were being taken to set up a plant to purify water at Mananchira. A squad would be constituted to check the water samples.
The council also approved a project of the Kudumabasree Mission to manufacture and distribute drinking water in the city. The project is to market a 20-litre can at ₹20.
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Party threatens agitation
Meanwhile, the Revolutionary Socialist Party (Leninist) district committee has asked the Centre to restore the status of the Calicut airport as an embarkation point for Haj pilgrims. The party will launch an agitation seeking this demand on March 1, when the renovated runway will be thrown open, Ambalathara Sreedharan Nair, party State general secretary, said at a regional party convention here.