Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan has said that the Oommen Chandy Government’s advertisement claiming its achievement that the Centre allotted to the state projects worth Rs 50414 crore during its tenure, was wrong and amounted to misleading the public. In a statement here, he asked the government to withdraw the advertisement and tender an apology for misleading the public.
He said that many of the achievements claimed to be that of Oommen Chandy Government were in fact made during the previous LDF Government’s tenure.
“It was the first UPA Government which came to power with the support of the Left parties which allotted the projects following the pressure mounted by the Left parties. The 18 LDF MPs from Kerala had played a major role in making the government to yield to their demands,” VS said.
He claimed that projects like Ezhimala Naval Academy, Brahmos, Thiruvananthapuram, ICSER, hanger unit, international airport development, IIST, Thiruvananthapuram, Kuttanad package, Sabarimala development, Kollam-Punalur broad gauge, Vallarpadom Container terminal, Kochi Metro, were the projects achieved during the LDF Government’s tenure.
He pointed out that Defence Minister A K Antony, while commissioning the Brahmos Missile Integration unit here in November 2012, had said that he had lost the courage to bring in any Central defence project in Kerala.Antony had also stated that he had received limitless support from the LDF Government and he had congratulated the LDF Government’s Chief Minister and Industries minister.
Achuthanandan alleged that Oommen Chandy was covering up these facts and making baseless claims.
VS said that the Oommen Chandy government had not been able to take ahead many of the projects which the Government claimed to be among its achievement.
For instance, the Rs 1840-crore Kuttanad package has not yet been implemented. VS said the Government had also done nothing for the dream project like Vizhinjam. VS also criticised the Oommen Chandy Government for its failure in controlling the price rise.
Cancellation Sought
Achuthanandan also demanded the Government to cancel the order granting permission to start resorts on one-and-a-half acres on the bank of the backwaters at Arookutty in Alappuzha district.
He alleged corruption worth crores of rupees behind the land deal.
He pointed out that the cabinet had decided to give land in violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone regulations to the two private resorts. These resort owners had approached the government offering to hand over 24 acres of land in Attappadi owned by them in exchange for the 1.5 acre of backwater land.
But the Palakkad District Collector had pointed out in the report that the Attappadi land was not owned by the resort owners and it was owned by three other people and they had prepared an agreement on plain paper stating that they were willing to hand over the land and it could not be sold.
It was by neglecting this report that the cabinet approved the proposal to hand over the backwater land to the resort groups. In the light of this, the Government should cancel the decision and urgently order a probe, he demanded.