KOCHI: Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has sent a letter to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), pointing out lapses in the CAG report with respect to the Vizhinjam International Port.
In his communication, Chandy said some of the things pointed out in the report were not true. He said the previous UDF Government had inked the agreement with Adani following all procedures and had also abided by the Centre’s rules and regulations.
He had also sought a scrutiny of the CAG report, which according to him, had many factual errors. Chandy also said the CAG had not compared the project reports of his government and by the LDF Government under the leadership of former Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan.
Referring to the audit report that the concession period for the project could have been 30 years instead of 40 years, Chandy said the period of 40 years has been adopted from the “Model Concession Agreement for State Ports” prepared by the Planning Commission. He also said no subsequent changes have been made to the concession agreement after awarding of work to Adanis.
Highly prejudiced articles of consultant
He alleged the replies given by the state government to the AG at various stages of audit were not properly credited or considered before finalising the present observations. Chandy alleged an external consultant was engaged by the AG’s office to support the Audit team. He alleged the consultant had written two articles in a leading Malayalam magazine, which were highly prejudiced.
Transparent tender process
On the tender process, he said it was undertaken with utmost transparency and followed the guidelines of Ministry of Finance and Planning