THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Friday turned out to be fruitful day for Advocate Ananda Kanakam, who, fed up with the corruption in the Kozhikode City Corporation, had begun a hunger strike along with K P Vijayakumar, convenor of the ‘Campaign Against the Corruption in the Corporation.’
While the Vigilance special court had ordered an inquiry into as many as 44 allegations of corruption, Ananda Kanakam said that the actual number of cases are much more.
Projects utilising state and Central funds, utilisation of ADB loans for infrastructure development, KSUDP projects, construction of flats and shopping complexes and renovation of the Town Hall are some of corruption cases that the campaign committee listed.
‘’There was a project to set up floodlights as part of stadium modification. The company was paid Rs 5.5 crore too. Not one of the lamps were ever seen lit,’’ said Vijayakumar.
The Campaign Against Corruption had begun its protests as many as three years ago.’’We submitted an appeal to the Chief Minister at his mass contact programme.
The Chief Minister had given directions to transfer it to Revenue Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, but there had been no information since,’’ said Ananda Kanakam, who is also the chairman of the campaign committee.
But just hours into the strike, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan called Ananda Kanakam over phone and assured her that not just the 44 cases, but the whole lot of allegations of corruption will be looked into.’’What we are trying to do is bring back goodness to Kozhikode. We want truth to prevail,’’ said Vijayakumar.