Thiruvananthapuram: Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has asked the non-resident Keralites (NRKs) to serve their state by joining the ‘KSFE Pravasi Chitty’, the ambitious project being launched by KSFE in association with Kerala Infrastructure and Investment Fund Board ( KIIFB ) and Norka.“Apart from guaranteeing better returns, allied pension and insurance schemes, Pravasi Chitty offers a great opportunity for NRKs to serve their state and support the government to realize several infrastructure development projects,” he said while inaugurating the project’s software and registration mechanism on Monday. Vijayan said NRK support was required to achieve the developments they wished to see in their home state; including coastal and hill highways, high-speed rail corridor and waterways. “KIIFB is a foolproof entity to mobilize funds outside the budget and it is managed by financial experts. All NRKs should be part of it, which is now possible through Pravasi Chitty,” he said.Finance minister TM Thomas Isaac, in his introductory remarks, said government was expecting a huge response to the chitty ‘as it is tailormade for NRKs’ with added features like insurance and pension schemes. “Now registration has begun, which would mean only an ‘expression of interest’, and registered people will be contacted by KSFE only at a later stage,” he said while elaborating on the scheme.Isaac also said that with the launch of Pravasi Chitty, KIIFB will enter into ‘implementation phase’. “Fund mobilization is now crucial as KIIFB will be sanctioning projects worth Rs 50,000 crore this fiscal and float tenders for works estimated at Rs30,000-40,000 crore. The coming year will see awarding of works worth Rs 20,000 crore,” he said.Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan presided over the function.Pravasi Chitty, at this stage is for NRKs in the UAE and will be extended to other GCC countries and beyond later. As per the plan, funds obtained through Pravasi Chitty will be invested in bonds of KIIFB, which in turn will be utilized for the infrastructure development of Kerala.And, KIIFB aims to mobilize funds to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore through this ambitious strategy.

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