Minister for Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes K. Radhakrishnan has said that ‘En Uru’, the first tribal heritage village in the State here, will be a milestone in the development of Kerala, especially of Wayanad, an emerging tourism destination.
Speaking after opening the multi-crore project on Saturday, Mr. Radhakrishnan said the project would create job opportunities directly and indirectly to many tribal families. The government had drafted a systematic project to evaluate the fund utilisation in tribal sector.
“As many as 500 candidates, including 200 from tribespeople, would be appointed as accredited engineers in three-tier local bodies in the State,” Mr. Radhakrishnan said, adding that the appointments would be a remedy for educated candidates who were losing job opportunities due to lack of experience.
“The Gothra Saradhi, a project to bring children from tribal hamlets to the nearest school by providing them free vehicle facilities in order to address the issue of school dropouts, would not be stopped,” he said, adding that an untimely delay in allotting plan funds by the local administrative bodies was the reason for the delay in launching the project at the beginning of the academic year. The initial fund for the project would be provided by the Tribal Development Department in advance to the civic bodies, but the bodies have to repay the amount after allotting the plan fund for the purpose, the minister said.
A circular issued by the department that restricted the entry of visitors to the tribal hamlets was misinterpreted. It was issued mainly to ensure the security of the tribal communities by avoiding the intervention of outsiders, especially the left extremists, Mr. Radhakrishnan said.
While inaugurating the second phase of the project on the occasion, Tourism Minister P.A. Mohamed Riyas said the heritage and culture of the tribal people would be conserved and their traditional knowledge would be promoted.
“The ventures that connect tourism and daily life of rural people would open new possibilities for the sector,” Mr. Riyas said, adding that the En Uru project would set a model for the sector. A prominent position would be given to the project in the tourism map of the State, the minister said.
