Despite the heated local protests, the State Government has expressed its support for the controversial private airport project at Aranmula in Pathanamthitta.
Public Works Department (PWD) Principal Secretary Tom Jose presented the project in the sectoral section on infrastructure development in ‘Emerging Kerala 2012’ on Thursday.
“The project is being presented for a simple and single reason to show that the government is really interested in bringing private investment to the state,” Jose stated.
On Wednesday, the inaugural day of the investors’ meet, the Palliyoda Pallivilakku Samrakshana Samithy had held a hartal in the region in protest against the project, pointing out that it would endanger the environment and the heritage.
The project became controversial following the allegations of flouting various rules.
While terming the multi-model integration of traffic as the USP of Kerala now, the Principal Secretary said that Kerala should adopt a ‘biocentric approach’ to projects with due respect and care for the ecology, instead of a ‘homocentric’ approach where humans are the only concern.