THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala has said there is no administration in the state and the Chief Minister and the CPM have orphaned the state. He said the Chief Minister, before leaving for the United States, had signed a government order - later released by the General Administration Department - stating E P Jayarajan will preside over Cabinet meetings.
“No Cabinet meeting has been held after the order and there is no meeting on Wednesday either. This shows the order has no sanctity,” Chennithala told reporters here on Tuesday. Chennithala said there is a major administrative problem in how to convene the Cabinet and who will sign the minutes. There is no legal validity on cabinet sub-committee meetings.
“Non-convening of the Cabinet is against all forms of democratic governance. In the past, when going out of the country for a few days, the Chief Minister would give charge to a Cabinet colleague. If this government has any responsibility, they shouldn’t have acted like this,” he said. The Chief Minister has not informed even the CPI of the development, even as senior CPM ministers are against E P Jayarajan presiding over the Cabinet meeting, the Opposition leader said.
“People in the flood-affected areas are running from pillar to post to get the Rs 10,000 announced by the government. Several impostors are included in the list of beneficiaries which even had a former MLA who later returned the money he received. This shows there is no accountability to even the money being distributed for the flood-affected,” he said.
While the government had announced kit bags with 22 items each will be provided to those in relief camps, he said, the kit has only 10 items. “The Chief Minister had announced an amount of Rs 1 lakh without interest to buy household equipment and Rs 10 lakh interest-free loan to small shop owners. But nothing has happened,” he alleged.
Chennithala also came out against the government forcibly collecting funds from employees who had already given money voluntarily. While the government can collect money from employees like IAS officers who can afford it, he said, collecting funds from a Class IV employee is inadvisable.