Sarthak Kanjilal
Port Blair, June 18: The Governor of Mizoram and former Lt. Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Mr. Vakkom Purusothaman today said he had to fight with the government of India for development of Tourism in these Islands.
Addressing the people in programme organized by the State Cooperative Union at Rajiv Gandhi Cooperative Training college at Teylorabad, Port Blair this morning, Vakkom Purushotaman said he took several initiatives to promote tourism and fisheries in the islands despite several constraints.
Appreciating the cooperation rendered by the senior officers of the administration in executing his dream projects in the islands, he said the present secretariat complex has been constructed in the record time of 18 months, while the Tourism Directorate premises was completed in just one year.
Besides, the Gandhi park with high mast lamps and walk ways for the visitors was designed and executed in a record time just 13 days.
Recalling his incessant efforts to expand the present Air Port at Port Blair, he said during those days the Air Port is considered as a defence air port and there were restrictions for any developmental works there. However, he has taken up the issue with the concerned authority successfully and paved way for expansion of the air port so as to attract many foreign tourists to these islands. He revealed that he left the islands only after finalizing the tenders for construction of the new air port.
Complimenting the remarkable literacy rate in the islands, he said the islands’ literacy rate is increasing constantly and stressed the need to promote tourism and fisheries sectors to generate more employment avenues for the educated youths of these Islands.
He further revealed that during his tenure as tourism Minister, Kerala witnessed unprecedented growth in tourism sector.
“Today Kerala has become one of the most popular tourist destinations of the world, because of innovative tourism projects executed there including the widely popular fascinating house boats,” he said.
He added that he only introduced the concept of house boat tourism in Kerala on the model of Jammu and Kashmir. He visited Jammu and Kashmir to study the functioning of house boats there and requested the Kashmir government to depute the experts to Kerala to execute similar house boat services for the tourists. Though the J & K government did not extend their cooperation in this regard, he took initiatives to design the house boats indigenously and launch the services successfully.
He is hopeful that the islands will witness tremendous growth in the near future through the development in the fields of Tourism and Fisheries. He also revealed that though he took many initiatives to develop the region, he could not develop these islands fully since his tenure as Lt Governor was too short to develop the region.
Earlier, the Chairman of State Cooperative Union, Kuldeep Rai Sharma welcomed the gathering. A number of dignitaries including Chairperson of Zilla Parishad, Chairperson and Senior Vice Chairperson of PBMC, PRI members and a large number of people attended the programme.
