THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: While uncertainty continues to prevail over the proposed foreign tours by ministers to drum up funding for the Rebuild Kerala initiative, the state government is expecting a green light from the Centre by Tuesday.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who had received the Central nod earlier, will leave for the UAE on Tuesday night.According to Agriculture Minister V S Sunil Kumar, who will be flying to Canada, all procedural clearances including embassy approvals for all the ministers were issued by Monday evening. Now, only a political nod from the Centre is pending and this was expected by Tuesday.
Following the delay in getting central nod, the Chief Secretary has been pursuing the matter with the External Affairs Ministry on a daily basis. Recently, the government had also written to the ministry urging the Central Government to speed up the process. “They have not said no. All the required documents are with the ministry along with the recommendations. We are optimistic of getting the approvals,’’ M V Jayarajan, private secretary to the Chief Minister, said. So far, the Centre has issued a conditional nod only to the Chief Minister’s proposed tour of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah in the UAE from Tuesday to October 21.
While the tour plans of the ministers and the large posse of officials have already invited criticism, the government has justified the decision saying it proposes to use these trips to “ interact and seek cooperation and assistance from Malayali populace, NRK organisations and members of Loka Kerala Sabha in various countries, as part of engaging the Malayali diaspora spread across the globe in the rebuilding process of post-flood Kerala.’’
All expenses are being borne by the state government undertaking NORKA-ROOTS. According to the government orders on the trips, all ministers are expected to start the tours of the respective countries by the coming Saturday.
Meanwhile, NORKA-ROOTS CEO Harikrishnan Namboothiri said the government was hopeful of getting the central nod. CM and his Cabinet colleagues are visiting UAE, Sri Lanka, Maldives, the US, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Netherlands, Singapore, Bahrain, Qatar and the UK.
Home affairs
If the ministers’ travel plans get the central nod, for most of this week and early next week the state will be left without the majority of its ministers. Only three ministers will be left behind - K K Shailaja, C Raveendranath and K Raju. Raju’s latest trip abroad had kicked up a row as it was in the midst of the flood crisis. After the untimely trip kicked up a row, the CPI had ordered him to return. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who will tour the UAE, is expected to be back by Monday.