Governor P Sathasivam calls it golden era

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Terming the last five years of UDF rule as a golden age, Governor P. Sathasivam highlighted some of the major initiatives like Kochi Metro, Light Metro, Vizhinjam port and vegetable production in his address to the  Assembly on Friday.

“I am proud to say that the last five years of my government have been a golden age of opportunities, an age where dreams came true, an age that propelled Kerala towards a fast trajectory of growth and development, an age which opened several doors that will bring in more and more opportunities for a holistic development of the people of Kerala.

Government strived hard to serve each and every citizen of Kerala and enable them to experience the best standards of living that a society can offer. In this process of serving the people we had the most enriching and valuable experience ever,” said the Governor in his two-and-a-half-hour address.

Patting  Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, the Governor highlighted the UN award for mass contact programme (Jana Samparka Paripadi) and Web Ratna award for the Chief Minister's website.

He also said that out of the 107 programmes announced in the '100 day magic' of the government, 102 could be completed.

However,  the Governor's address was silent on some much-hyped initiatives that failed to take off, including the Seaplane project and  the whistle blower policy that still remain on paper.

Highlighting the Kochi Metro as one of the major infrastructure initiatives, Mr. Sathasivam said the Metro project would ensure an eco-friendly and public-friendly transportation that would serve 4.12 lakh people by 2017,  5.19 lakh by 2021 and 7.57 by 2031. Initiatives for the Light Metro projects in

Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode also received the Governor's pat. He also said that the state's economic growth rate of 12.3 percent was higher than the national  rate of 10.50 percent during 2014-15.

The Kerala Technology Start-up Policy announced in 2015 was  hailed by the Governor as a  major initiative to boost entrepreneurship. Already 405 start-ups have been incubated at Startup Village.

IT exports from the state that was around Rs 3,000 crore in 2011 now touched Rs 15,000 crore and would touch Rs 18,000 crore  by 2016, he said expressing hopes that the Kochi Smart City project, to be commissioned on February 20, would generate 5,500 jobs.

The UDF's liquor policy was  aimed at achieving the vision to build a liquor-free society and eradicate drug abuse. The Clean Campus and Safe Campus programme of the state police to check the use of narcotic substance by students also received the Governor's mention.

Hailing the initiatives in the agriculture sector, he said that the area of vegetable production in the state increased from 42,447 hectares in 2011-12 to 90,533 hectares in 2014-15 and the production also increased from 8.25 lakh tonnes to 15.32 lakh tonnes.

He also hailed the Operation Anantha to check floods. He found it difficult to
pronounce some Malayalam words, but he said them  correctly after getting
clarified from the Chief Minister or Speaker N. Sakthan.