Union Minister of State for Tourism Alphons Kannanthanam was given a reception by the State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party at the Cochin international airport on Sunday. It was Mr. Kannanthanam’s first visit to Kerala after he assumed charge as the Union Minister. He proceeded to Muvattupuzha from the airport. “Encroachment of land in the name of tourism cannot be allowed,” Mr. Kannanthanam told reporters at Muvattupuzha.
The Minister told mediapersons here that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted cordial relations with Kerala and promised support for the development of the State. He was received, among others, by BJP State unit president Kummanam Rajasekharan and party leader P.S. Sreedharan Pillai. NDA leaders such as P.C. Thomas too were present.
“The policy of the Modi government is to have excellent Centre-State relations and I am confident that I will be able to do it as I have an excellent relation with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan,” said Mr. Kannanthanam.
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Mr. Kannanthanam told mediapersons at Muvattupuzha that it was the State’s responsibility to make arrangements to accommodate the large number of tourists thronging places such as Munnar.
“Removing encroachments from a place like Munnar is the duty of the State government. But, one thing is for sure... encroachments of land in the name of tourism cannot be allowed,” he said.
He urged the Kerala government to identify land at places of tourist attraction such as Munnar to help private players interested in developing tourism infrastructure.
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Rousing reception
Special Correspondent writes from Kottayam: Mr. Kannanthanam was given a rousing reception at his home village Manimala.
A roadshow put up by the BJP toured all nine grama panchayats in the Kanjirappally Assembly segment which he had represented before joining the BJP.
Cancelled
Meanwhile, Mr. Kannanthanam called off the programmes he has scheduled for Monday and Tuesday citing a Cabinet meeting he had to attend in Delhi.
(With inputs from PTI)