Labour Minister, P.K. Gurudasan has called upon the non-resident Keralites (NRK) to join Kerala’s development race by making investments in the State.
The Minister was inaugurating the Kerala convention of the Federation of Malayali Associations in America (FOMAA) at Dr. Alexander Mar Thoma auditorium in Thiruvalla on Saturday afternoon.
He said NRKs need not be apprehensive over the reported labour problems in Kerala as the State has already developed a work culture that very well suits industrial development.
Though the State has been witnessing certain labour problems, it is a fact that many of them have not affected the functioning of the concerned industrial unit, Mr. Gurudasan said.
The Minister said the 4.62 km rail bridge linking Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal site to Edappally has almost been completed in the prescribed time frame itself. The work on the container terminal too was progressing fast so as to complete it in a time-bound manner, he said.
Mr. Gurudasan said the State government had enacted the NRK Welfare Act, the first of its kind in the whole country, in 2008.
Mr. N.K. Premachandran, Water Resources Minister, inaugurated the FOMAA housing scheme by handing over the keys of 33 newly-constructed houses to all the homeless beneficiaries on the occasion.
Leader of the Opposition, Oommen Chandy, launched the FOMAA Helpline on the occasion.
Anto Antony, MP, Joseph M. Puthusserry, Raju Abraham, Thomas Chandy, MLAs, Cherian Polachirackal, municipal chairman, Cherian Philip, Kerala Tourism Development Corporation chairman, Blessy, cine director, Varghese Mammen, organising committee chairman and John C. Varghese, FOMAA secretary, also spoke.
Presiding over the function, the FOMAA president, John Titus, said the association would launch more charity schemes soon.