IDUKKI: Reacting to MP Joice George’s allegations that the UDF government has failed to implement the Idukki Package, former MP P T Thomas the other day said that it is the LDF government which sabotaged the package.
LDF was in power in the state when the Congress-led UPA government, in November 2008, had allocated the package for the district, Thomas told reporters at the Idukki Press Club at Thodupuzha. The Left government was in power until March 2011 after which the present UDF government came to power, he said.
The Left government cannot shy away from the moral responsibility of its failure to implement the project, he said.
Now, the left front is making efforts to show the UDF in a bad light by putting the blame on its head, he added.
P T Thomas also took a dig at UDF partner Kerala Congress (Jacob) group chairman Johny Nellore who had on Thursday blamed the UDF for the fiasco.
Thomas said that Johny Nellore had not studied the report properly before making the comment.
Thomas said that no matter what but the lapse of the project is very painful. The Chief Minister had written a letter in this regard to the Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar while UPA ruled at the Centre.
Pawar had assured that the existing project would continue to get funds.
The Central Government had made it clear that it won’t extend time period for the Idukki Package, worth Rs 764.45 crore, after it lapsed on November 2013.
The package was drawn up with an aim to provide financial assistance to mitigate the agrarian distress in Idukki district.Proposals worth Rs 455.86 crore were sanctioned out of which an amount of Rs 250.72 crore had been released. However, only
Rs 198.62 crore has been utilized from 2008 to 2013 November.