The zero landless project launched by the State government was a farsighted and ambitious welfare scheme which even the developed countries could not think about, Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash has said.
The Minister was addressing the 66th Republic Day celebrations at the district stadium here on Monday. He said the project, which aimed at providing land to all landless people in the State, had become a model for the whole country. Mr. Prakash said government land meant land belonging to the people.
He said Pathanamthitta district, formed in 1983, was on a fast trajectory of growth. Setting up of engineering colleges, medical colleges and a new taluk amply showed this road to growth, he said.
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The Minister said the government had launched an ambitious tourism project to tap the immense ecotourism potential of the district with a sizable forest area. The government had taken steps to ensure maximum possible basic facilities at Sabarimala, for the annual religious conventions at Maramon and Cherukolpuzha and church festivals at Parumala and Manjanikkara, he said. Mr. Prakash said adventure tourism, elephant camp at Konni, Vallamkali and Vallasadya at Aranmula, Aranmula metal mirrors, and the ecotourism centres of Gavi and Adavi had already attained national and international attention. Mr. Prakash said the campaign to make the district free of plastic menace was launched during the just-concluded Sabarimala pilgrim season by distributing cloth bags to Sabarimala pilgrims.