IDUKKI: Clearing the air on the helicopter ride controversy, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said there was nothing unusual about his aerial journey to Thiruvananthapuram to meet the Central team that had arrived to asses the damage due to cyclone Ockhi. He was speaking after inaugurating the valedictory public meeting of the CPM Idukki district conference in Kattappana on Wednesday.
Pinarayi said he became aware of the details regarding the allocation of funds only on Tuesday evening, and that too from media reports.
“It is natural the government pays the travel charges of the chief minister or ministers, whether the journey is by car or helicopter. Ministers do not ask about from which account the amount was sanctioned. Such things are being handled by officers only,” he said.
Pinarayi recalled the visit of an official team from Kerala, including Governor P Sathasivam, himself, former CM Oommen Chandy and Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala to attend the funeral of former Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa. “We had travelled in a chartered flight and I still do not know the payment was made from which account,” he said. Pinarayi said when he came to know that the payment for his trip was paid from the disaster relief fund, he rang up the officer concerned and directed him to change it to public fund. “The issue has been settled with this. There were no faults in the m atter. We need to travel like this in future as well,” he said.
There is an attempt to portray the incident as a theft by the CM, he said. “The campaign is going as if I had made a theft. If I had not come to Thiruvananthapuram to meet the Central team, then the campaign would have been like ‘CM refused to meet Central team,” he said.
Meanwhile, Pinarayi slammed the Central government, claiming that while the Centre allocated only `134 crore for Ockhi relief, the state could raise more or less the same amount from the public here.
Revenue Secretary P H Kurian met Revenue Minister E Chandrashekaran and explained about issuing the order. “The revenue secretary explained the circumstances that led to issuing such an order. The secretary explained that there were certain provisions for issuing such orders,” the minister said.
The minister added that the secretary had not given any written explanation, but would be giving the same soon.