An aggressive Oommen Chandy came down heavily on Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan for what he termed as negative approach and levelling charges after boycotting the all-party meet on Emerging Kerala 2012.
The Chief Minister also flayed his predecessor for seeking clarifications on three specific projects and presented documents to prove that the former Chief Minister himself had put his signature on the same projects. Chandy said that Achuthanandan’s complaint was that he had not responded to a recent letter seeking clarifications on a few points. “I’m giving a reply today. But since he had given his letter to the media, I’m presenting the same in front of you,” he said waving the documents.
The first project mentioned was the Electronics Hardware Park at Ambaloor in Kochi. “It was Achuthanandan who had chaired the cabinet meet which had given sanction to acquire 334 acres under fast track and negotiable purchase terms for the Park,” he said. “Another project on which doubts have been raised is the Kochi Petroleum Industrial Park in Emerging Kerala. In the 2009-’10 budget speech, approval was given for the Rs 1580-crore project,” he noted.
“In the case of Kochi-Coimbatore Industrial Corridor also, Inkel was entrusted with the job of conducting a detailed survey,” he said. “What kind of manners are this?” an agitated Chandy said and added that not even a single cent of paddy field was converted for Aranmula airport by the UDF.
“The entire conversion was during LDF government’s tenure. We’re not going to succumb to any threats posed by Achuthanandan or LDF,” he warned. “If we go wrong, we will not have any hesitation to correct our policies since it is only good not to indulge in more lies to cover up faults,” he said.
“Do you want to know about Inkel? It was the baby of the LDF government,” he said. Chandy also defended the proposed projects at Panakkad. “The land was earmarked by the former government for Edu City when the demand for a regional centre of Aligarh University was in the air,”he said.
Industries Minister P K Kunhalikutty also criticised the campaign that in spite of handing over land for companies on the basis of the proposals in the Global Investor Meet (GIM), nothing had come up. ‘’Look at Kinfra parks and the Technopark. If Smart City had been realised earlier, it would have generated more jobs,” he pointed out.