10/09/2020
Dear Citizens of the Capital Region,
It is indeed sad for the entire South Kerala when the Opposition Parties two weeks ago supported the motion by the Govt. against the privatisation of the Trivandrum International Airport operations on our soil and derailed the fate of Trivandrum development.
Opposition Parties conveniently forgot the Election promise they gave us during Parliament Elections supporting privatisation of Trivandrum Airport which is a clear case of breach of trust. It is also really shocking to see the Govt rallying MPs against “leasing” of the Airport, which is far from the truth when it is only a management contract. We also fail to understand why they are rushing through a sub-judice matter that is before the Hon High Court of Kerala instead of awaiting the outcome.
Trivandrum Airport is a story of decades of neglect and mis-management, from being one of the early and best airports in the world to become a symbol of stunted growth of the Region. Privatisation is the only way out, to overcome the exorbitant fares, imposed unreasonable fees and tariffs. A good airport will revitalise investments, growth of businesses, job creation and other development opportunities in the Region.
On behalf of all the trade bodies, organisations, public and stakeholders of this Region, we deplore this betrayal of the people of Trivandrum. We will not forget this and hold those responsible, accountable for letting us down.
Successive Governments and the political parties that came to power have deliberately overlooked the development of the State Capital, Trivandrum. None of the political parties did anything constructive to drive the development of this City. Even worse, most of their leaders, while living here and enjoying the hospitality that Trivandrum offered, turned out to be the worst enemies of Trivandrum. None of them stood up for the residents socially, politically nor administratively and took the residents of the Capital Region for granted.
As there was no unifying citizens movement in Trivandrum that can be reckoned with by the political brasses, the successive governments, for their vested interests, have been acting against the needs of the Region. This made them progressively bold to the point of taking away most of the State level offices in the Capital City to other places like the Maritime Board, Bureau of Indian Standards, Medical University, etc. None of us protested. At best we shared our disgust in private, including when the British Council was shut down by the Trivandrum Corporation, instead of retaining it and having their Consulate here. As we were not organised to voice our collective point of views, we became perpetual losers, be it the High Court Bench, AIMS, the Light Metro, The Outer Ring Road(ORR), Waste Management Plant,Shipyard, Cruise Terminal… the list is long and painful.
The City which boasted of one of the oldest and the first International Airport that saw some ray of hope of finding its pride of place and come out of the curse of neglect is being targeted by vested interests, living on our soil and leading the cause to deny us this.
All through these years, we were ignored, as we were not united in the fight for achieving the development of the Capital Region. Every political party is aware that the citizens are not organised and use that as an opportunity to drive their vested agenda on the silent majority. We must speak up. We must speak up now!
No other Capital City would have suffered so much of neglect, insults and setbacks, as our beloved Trivandrum. Gone are its days of splendour and aristocracy. The City is on its way to near complete dereliction and loss of relevance. The neglect in development of the Travancore Region after being part of Kerala needs introspection and remedial steps taken.
The need of the hour is to stand up for our beloved City and Capital Region. It is NOW or NEVER. Politicians must be made to realise that they cannot continue to live on our soil and destroy our very own existence. Politicians must be made to realise that the real power lies with the people. Politicians must be made to realise that if they take away our jobs, we too can take away their jobs, and we will. We need to stand together and be vocal to show our resentment to the treatment meted out to us which we must convey through various platforms available to us, including the vote bank.
Like I said, we do not have a Godfather and as such all of us are the Godfathers of our City. Our movement do not have politics, caste or religion. TCCI is only taking the lead to bring everyone under an Awake Trivandrum umbrella to fight for the development of the Capital Region. Awake Trivandrum is not a political entity. We have different political leanings and respect that. We will work towards organising ourselves as a Pressure Group focussing on the development of Trivandrum that no political formation in Trivandrum can ignore.
Let us unite and fight for our people, our region, our development, our future and finally for our future generations!
LET US GO ALL OUT AND DO IT. IT’S NOW OR NEVER!
SN Raghuchandran Nair
President
Trivandrum Chamber of Commerce and Industry
http://Tcci.co.in
Trivandrum Rises Trivandrum Indian Trivandrum Airport Users Forum (TAUF) Trivandrum Life Trivandrum
Shashi Tharoor V Muraleedharan Narendra Modi Hardeep Singh Puri Sabarinadhan K S Suresh Gopi Chief Minister's Office, Kerala Ramesh Chennithala Benny Behanan O Rajagopal Mohanlal Adoor Prakash Kanam Rajendran Shibu Baby John
The people's refrendum for development of Trivandrum Airport
