Kerala: CM Vijayan opens his State’s work-near-home facility at Kollam

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday launched the pilot centre of ‘Commune’, his government’s ambitious work-near-home (WNH) project, which he called an important step towards building Kerala as a thriving skill hub.



The facility can accommodate 141 professionals.


These centres, being built as plug-and-play facilities, are targeted at professionals working away from their campuses, and startup entrepreneurs in the tech and knowledge-based sectors.

The first such facility has come up at Kottarakara, a town in Kerala’s Kollam district. “This initiative lays the foundation for a knowledge economy and the making of a New Kerala,” the chief minister said in a post on X.


The government is building such centres in small towns, and they come equipped with high-speed internet, air-conditioned cabins, meeting rooms, conference halls, and cafeterias.

Finance Minister KN Balagopal said the facilities were ideal for small groups of tech professionals, or even larger companies.

Ten more such centres are coming up, and the government hopes they will spur local employment opportunities and help those open to come back to Kerala. “Migration from Kerala is a thing of the past. Our initiatives have led to reverse migration, and talented professionals are coming back to their home state,” industries minister P Rajeeve told ET.