Pitroda call to focus on 10 core areas

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Sam Pitroda, who has taken up the role of mentor of the state, has called for Kerala to focus on ten core areas to put the state on a fast development track. Among the core areas identified include development of  coastal waterways, building of a knowledge city, high speed rail corridor, proper waste management schemes and making the state a world capital of ayurveda, among other things. Summing up the outcome of his discussions on Wednesday with the Chief Minister and other ministers, Sam Pitroda told mediapersons that a white paper on the viable projects would be drafted within 90 days adding that what had been presented now were only suggestions.  ‘’It could be even five out of the listed ten, or even less,’’ he said.‘’When we comes back with the white paper, the chief minister should show the political will to implement it, he said.“We’ve to look at projects in the PPP model. If a project is packaged and presented properly, people will definitely come to invest,to live here,’’ he said but cautioned that there a few legacy systems in Kerala, like in West Bengal. “ The world is changing. I hope Kerala will also change. If we have big projects, talent will come. We have to provide a platform,’’he opined. “Sometimes it works, sometimes it may not,’’ he added. Asked whether lack of political consensus hampered the development projects of the state and whether the proposal for a high- speed rail corridor could be realised in  Kerala which is lacking free land, Pitroda replied that what was important was to decide on something first. “Maybe elevated routes could be considered for the rail corridor,’’he said.Kerala will have to change its past legacies, which are not in tune with the rest of the country, to cope up with the new challenges.Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who was also present, asserted that Kerala is changing fast.“It is very visible. Labour militancy in the state is on the wane. Workers and trade union leaders are very cooperative now. Only minimum working days are lost now due to agitations. In the social welfare front, Kerala is in the forefront. But with regared to infrastructure and development, the state remains backward,’’ Chandy said. He hoped that all will cooperate to make up for the lost opportunities of the state. To queries about the reported recommendations of a committee headed by him for hefty tariff hikes, Pitroda said that the committee had neither finalised nor submitted any report.