Bishop Chenaparambil was a ‘saviour’ figure for people residing in the coastal areas here.
The Bishop was responsible for introducing rain harvesting in the 80 km coastal stretch under the Alappuzha diocese. Most of the people who took up rain water harvesting belong to the Latin order of the Catholic Church.
After Bishop Chenaparambil assumed charge of the Alappuzha diocese in 1982, one of his aims was to improve the living condition of the poor fisher folk here. With this aim, he constructed a vegetable farm on the premise of the diocese. He also introduced organic farms, fish farms and dairy farms. “He not only introduced new methods of farming, but also developed model farms,” said Alappuzha Diocese Bishop Stephan Athipozhiyil.
The Bishop was also responsible for introducing the cage fish farming, a method by which fish are grown in the sea in cages.
“He once constructed a fishing boat using wood and fibre. When fishermen raised suspicion about the safety of the boat, the Bishop went to sea in the boat with the fishermen,” said Abraham Arackal, former president of the Kerala Latin Catholic Association. The Bishop introduced various projects to create employment, like bag making using plantain fibre and construction of fishing nets using nylon. He contributed to the development of the Alappuzha town in various ways.
