ALAPPUZHA: Days after landing the LDF government in a fix over not inviting him for the inauguration of a prestigious project, sidelined CPM leader G Sudhakaran on Sunday launched a fresh diatribe, alleging a lack of planning especially in the health and tourism departments.
“Planning is not distributing kits or providing essentials at a lower price during Onam and Vishu,” Sudhakaran said. He was speaking at a seminar in Alappuzha. Singling out the health department, the former minister said it is in disarray due to apathy and disregard.
“The health sector needs reforms... Many things need to be done in the sector. Medical colleges don’t have sufficient doctors, and those posts are not being allowed to function to the best of their abilities,” he alleged.
The development works of Alappuzha MCH have not reached anywhere, he said. On the tourism sector, he said the canals and rivulets of Alappuzha are at their rotting best.
Alappuzha DTPC a haven of corruption: Sudhakaran
“No steps are being taken to find a solution to the problem. The canals are not being modernised,” he said. Terming the Alappuzha District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) as a haven of corruption, Sudhakaran alleged that youngsters are being used by people with vested interests by supplying them with narcotics.
“There has been an increase in the use of narcotics in the district,” he said. Sudhakaran, who was denied a ticket by the CPM in the last assembly elections, had come out with a Facebook post on January 20, complaining that he was not invited to the inauguration of the six-storey super speciality block of the Alappuzha Medical College.
He claimed that he was at the forefront of the campaign to get approval for the project. The two-time minister has been at odds with the party after CPM’s internal probe found that he did not rise to the occasion to campaign for the party candidate on his home-turf Ambalappuzha in the 2021 assembly elections.
The senior CPM leader’s accusations come right close on the heels of criticism raised against the second Pinarayi Vijayan government by K B Ganesh Kumar MLA at the LDF parliamentary party meeting recently. Ganesh had been critical of the government at various public meetings, too.