Asha Sanil, the new district panchayat president, has zeroed in on development of agriculture and promotion of Ayurveda as her immediate priority areas.
She has set her sights on making Ernakulam self-sufficient in food. Ms. Sanil told a meet-the-press programme here on Tuesday that making Ernakulam fallow land-free would be one of the major projects of the new governing committee. A retail market for the produce of Kudumbasree will be set up in the district.
Farms under our jurisdiction would be equipped and promoted to undertake cultivation of a diverse range or products from paddy to vegetables, she said.
Ponds and water bodies remaining neglected in the district would be rejuvenated and preserved properly. Water from these bodies would be used in our endeavour to promote farming.
More tractors and tillers would be made available as part of mechanisation of farming. Floating tillers would be tried out in Pokkali farms in the eastern panchayats. Animal husbandry would be promoted to make the district self-sufficient in egg production.
The district panchayat would utilise 300 acres farm under its ownership in Neriamangalam for cultivating medicinal plants as well. Even the area along the newly constructed embankments as part of preservation of ponds would be used for planting medicinal plants.
At present, medicines in the district Ayurveda hospital are being bought from outside. “Our larger plan is to make the entire Ayurveda health care sector in our district self-sufficient in medicines,” Ms. Sanil said.
Continuing the previous governing committee’s focus on developing infrastructure, we would infuse technology in the education sector by developing smart classrooms. While the previous committee concentrated on improving the infrastructure in higher secondary schools, Ms. Sanil said that this time the focus would be on high schools.
Promotion of livelihood has been identified as another priority area. This would be done by running self-employment projects like sanitary napkins manufacturing units.
