Alappuzha District - 50^th Anniversary

Yes ! it was on Chingam 1, Kollavarsham 1133 ( 17th August, 1957) , the day in which Keralites welcome the Ponnona maasam ( month) with a hope for better crops and happiness, after facing the natures curses in the form of Cyclone and Flood, that Alappuzha District (Jilla) came into existence in the map of Kerala State. [Kolla Varsham or Malayalam year is the Malayalam calendar system followed in Kerala. It has also 12 months named Chingam, Kanni, Thulam, Vrishchikam, Dhanu, Makayiram, Kumbham, Meenam, Medam, Idavam, Midhunam and Karkkidakam)].

The declaration was made by the then Hon'ble Chief Minister, Sh. E M Shankaran Namboothirippad lighting the traditional lamp, in the premises of District Court. Hon'ble Ministers of the First Kerala State Government, Sh. T V Thomas, Smt. K R Gowri Amma, Dr. A R Menon, Sh. P K Chathan, Sh. K P Gopalan and the people from various parts of the district and neighbouring districts witnessed the event. A team headed by then Hon'ble Deputy Speaker Smt.Aisha Bai, then Chief Secretary Sh. Raghavan Achari and then Puncha Special Officer Sh.M P Chellappan Nair and other eminent citizens worked hard to make the inaugural function a great success. Dr. Chalayil K P Panicker Chaired the function and Sh. A R Sulaiman Sait welcomed the diginataries.

Kuttanad, which was part of Kottayam district and Cherthala, Ambalapuzha, Karthikappally, Mavelikkara and Chengannur Taluks of Kollam District (then Quilon) were carved out to form the district.

A coconut tree, which is still in the left of the entrance of the District Court was planted by EMS to comemmorate the occassion.

Eminent personalities like Chalayil Sh. K P Panicker, Sh K Parthasarathi Ayyangar, Sh. A Sulaiman Sait, Sh. S Veeraiah Reddiar, Sh. K N Parameswara Sharma, Sh. K Velappan Pillai, Sh. K P M Sherief, Sh. K Bhima Pattar, Sh. Varghese Vaidyan, Sh. Swayamvaran Nair, Sh. G Chithambarayyar, Sh. Kalarkode Narayana, Sh. K G Nath, Sh. N N Ilayathu, Sh. Ravi Karunakaran, Smt. T Viswalekshmi, Sh. T A Abdulla headed the agitation for the district formation.

50th Anniversary celebrations will commence with a cultural meeting in the premises of Collectorate on 17th August 2007 (Chingam 1 Kollavarsham 1183) . The function will be inaugurated by the Hon'ble Minister for Coir, Cooperation and Devaswom Sh.G Sudhakaran. Sh. K C Venugopal Alappuzha MLA will chair the function and Smt. K R Gowri Amma , Revenue Minister in the First Kerala State Government who had signed the orders of the district formation. The collectorate record room will be inaugurated by the Hon'ble Minister for Revenue, Sh. K P Rajendran.