THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Welcoming the government’s decision for a judicial probe into the Vizhinjam international port project’s concession agreement, former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said it would put an end to all controversies.
“As the Chief Minister at the time of signing the agreement, I had taken all humanly possible steps to make it as transparent as possible,” he said in a Facebook post. “The comments of the CAG have created some doubts in the minds of the people, which are not realistic. I want the doubts to be cleared at the earliest possible time.”
“My only request to the Chief Minister is a comparative study of the cost, benefit and investment of the state deriving from the present agreement and the agreement adopted by the V S Achuthanandan Government may also be included in the terms of reference,” Chandy said.
He alleged the replies given by the state government to the CAG at various stages of the audit were not properly credited or considered before finalising the present observations. He said an external consultant was engaged by the CAG office to support the audit team. He alleged the consultant had written two highly prejudiced articles in a Malayalam magazine.