THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala has charged that the state government is continuing squandering public money on unnecessary matters and its decision to send college union chairpersons to Cardiff University in the UK for a training programme is another instance of its spending spree.
He said that immediately after the chief minister and his entourage came back after a foreign trip, spending a huge sum of money from the exchequer, the government was spending another `1.25 crore to send 70 college union chairpersons to the UK. The opposition leader said that a majority of these chairpersons hailed from the SFI and this student organisation was conducting physical intimidation in the name of student politics. “Criminal student leaders of University College are a law unto themselves and the police cannot apprehend students accused in criminal cases even though they participate in public demonstrations,” Chennithala said.
He said that it would have been better if the student leaders were sent abroad for training after bringing in peace on campuses. He charged that while the state was facing an acute financial crisis, spending taxpayers’ money on such extravaganza was against the people.The senior Congress leader said that the money spent on the travel and other expenses of student leaders was generated from the funds transferred by the central government for improving the academic standards of the state.
Chennithala asked whether the government of the state had any responsibility towards the people of the state and pointed out instances of extravaganza in buying bullet-proof vehicles, hiring helicopters and ministers and the CM embarking on foreign jaunts.
Chennithala said that the local self-government bodies of the state have almost ceased functioning for the past one and a half months and added that no bills were cleared in November. He also said that the plan utilisation of the local self-government bodies was only 30.21 per cent.