THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Springing a surprise, the City Corporation has come up with a name to be bestowed on the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport.Call it thanksgiving or gratitude to the Travancore royal family for having fetched global attention to the capital city, the Corporation wants the airport to be named after Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, the last ruler of the erstwhile Travancore kingdom. A resolution approved in the Corporation Council that met here on Friday, which had been introduced by Welfare Standing Committee Chairman Palayam Rajan, decided to ask the Central Government, Department of Aviation and the Chief Minister to endorse the idea and the name. The resolution said that it was Sree Chithira Thirunal who gave acres of land free of cost to establish an airport in Thiruvananthapuram, when air travel was only shaping up here. It was the flying club that began in 1932 during his time that gradually developed into a full-fledged airport. The Travancore royal family had taken all the initiative for it, the resolution said. ‘’Now that Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple has attracted international attention, also thanks to the royal family, there is going to be a flow of tourists to this place. So, it would be apt for the terminal to carry the name of Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma,’’ Rajan said. BJP member M R Rajiv, who seconded the opinion, however, wanted the courtesy to be extended in the case of Vizhinjam mother port too. ‘’We should propose the name of Amma Maharani for the mother port,’’ he said, which invited stares from many quarters. Though the UDF members seemed comfortable with the idea (for once), they used the opportunity to invite the attention of the LDF-led Council to the pathetic condition of the Shangumugham palace, which was also once a property of the Travancore family. ‘’It is being frequented by dogs and ghosts. Why don’t you do something to the palace, if you really want to show your love for the Travancore family?’’ asked Thampanoor councillor Harikumar. To this, Health Standing Committee Chairperson Pushpalatha shot up from her seat and replied that the UDF member was talking without any information of what was happening in the Corporation. ‘’We have already visited the palace, conceived a project to turn it into a museum and the project is only an inch away from the implementation process,’’ she said, which was also seconded by the Mayor.
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