THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After relentless persuasion from Kerala, the Central Government has decided to retain the Sree Narayana Guru spiritual circuit in the state, under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme, that was shelved last monthIn a communication to the state, the Centre has informed that the `69.47-crore Sree Narayana Guru spiritual circuit project would be retained under Swadesh Darshan Scheme, while it has not mentioned anything about the spiritual circuit project linking 133 places of worship in the state. After the Swadesh Darshan Division of the Ministry of Tourism dropped the Sree Narayana Guru spiritual circuit and the `85.23-crore spiritual circuit linking 133 places of worship in 14 districts without citing any reason, there were widespread protests against the Centre’s decision.
The two projects got the Centre’s approval during 2018-19 as part of integrated development of theme-based tourist circuits. The state government has written to the Centre asking to retain the two projects which were approved under the Swadesh Darshan scheme launched by the Tourism Ministry. Commenting on the development, Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran welcomed the decision and asked the Centre to entrust the work with the state tourism department.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said the Central Government’s decision to retain the dropped project is the success of the people in the state. Meanwhile, the BJP state unit welcomed the Centre’s decision to revive the Sivagiri pilgrimage tourism circuit project which the party alleged became a non-starter due to inaction on the part of the state government.