Governor shifts residence in Raj Bhavan due to palm civets in the attic

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Governor Arif Mohammad Khan is having sleepless nights and it is not due to his ongoing tussle with the Chief Minister. Some palm civets, called ‘Marapatti’ in Malayalam, have made the attic of the Governor’s residence its home and is making noises and disturbing the Governor’s sleep. These palm civets are also dirtying the rooms with urine.

This has prompted the Governor to shift his stay to the presidential suite in the Raj Bhavan, reserved for visiting VVIPs. Reports say that he will be staying here for the next six months.

The presidential suite, also called Ananthapuri Suite, is situated in Raj Bhavan complex itself. It is a luxury residential room reserved for visiting VVIPs such as the President, Prime Minister, and the Vice President.

The Raj Bhavan is a building built in the Kerala architectural style. The rooms have wooden ceilings and above it, tiles are paved on wooden frames. The palm civets have made the space just above the room’s ceiling which is a sort of attic.

When these nocturnal animals began to disturb the sleep of the Governor, he ordered the PWD to do maintenance work and renovate the area. Broken tiles must be replaced and the ceilings renovated.

The Governor shifted his residence to the suite once the maintenance works began.

The presidential suite was earlier the guest house of the Travancore royal family before it was renovated and converted into the presidential suite as we see it now. The President, Vice President and Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, have stayed at the presidential suite. Governors also allowed to stay at the presidential suite.

A month earlier, Governor Arif Mohammad Khan in a written request to the Chief Minister asked that the government guest house in Kovalam be provided to him because of the maintenance work. However, the Kerala government refused his request on security grounds.

Following the Governor’s request the Chief Minister conveyed a high level meeting with secretaries of home and tourism department. The meeting came to the conclusion that the head of state staying near the beach in Kovalam posed security concerns. In addition, it will also hamper the tourism in the area as the public and tourists will have to be controlled to pave security for the Governor.

The meeting also rejected the request to make the appointment of 20 temporary workers who joined Raj Bhavan through the Kudumbasree.