Cochin airport to wear a green look

NEDUMBASSERY: A unique project of cultivating medicinal plants on idle land, including on the sides of the 4-km runway of Cochin International Airport, was inaugurated by Industries Minister Elamaram Kareem here on Monday.

The CIAL will implement the project in association with the Confederation for Ayurvedic Renaissance-Kerala (CARe Keralam), a consortium of 53 ayurvedic organisations in the state.

The vacant land of CIAL will be handed over to CARe Keralam for the cultivation of medicinal plants which do not grow more than 5 feet.

CARe Keralam, the first ayurvedic functional cluster in the country, based at Koratty, will entrust the cultivation to Mattathoor Labour Cooperative Society for planting and maintaining the herbal plants. “Around 100 acres of land will be used for cultivation, which will earn handsome foreign money as the medicinal plants are on high demand in the world market,” CARe Keralam CEO Dr Joy Varghese said.

“The cultivation of herbal plants has infinite scope.

The ayurvedic companies which suffer badly owing to the lack of regular supply of raw materials will be solved through the introduction of the project,” Elamaram Kareem said.

Presiding over the function, Fisheries Minister S Sarma said the large-scale cultivation of medicinal plants would protect the environment and safeguard the future of human beings.

Project like these would help to bring down the level of global warming, Transport Minister Jose Thettayil said.

C Raveendranath MLA, the man behind the project, proposed that the cultivation of medicinal plants should be extended to every family in the state.

CIAL MD C G Krishnadas Nair said the medicinal plants, which would repel the rats, snakes and birds, would be chosen to be cultivating in the airport area.

CIAL would approach DGCA and similar agencies for the required approval for the cultivation of plants and shrubs in the operational area of the airport. However, despite the advantages, the large-scale planting of medicinal plants would likely pose high security threat to the airport. Thick bushes and shrubs close to the runway could become a den for anti-social elements, including terrorists, as the security system in the airport miserably has failed on several occasions in the past.