THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Thursday’s Assembly session witnessed an uproar with the Opposition attacking the Pinarayi Government over the ‘rise in violence, burglary and murder’ in the state. Despite Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s claims the law and order situation was intact and his admission there may have been slight delays in nabbing culprits in some cases, the Opposition walked out of the House. The zero hour also saw an angry Pinarayi refusing to succumb to the Opposition’s demands of changing his style of functioning and saying the latter was trying to put a blot on the state’s law and order scenario.
Pinarayi indexed the data of a few watchdog organisations, which placed Kerala on the top when it came to ensuring women protection holding the Police Department’s performance in high esteem, since the LDF took charge.To this, the latter pulled out the burgeoning crime rate as per the compilation of the National Crime Records Bureau. The Opposition also bombarded the government with instances of old people and children becoming targets of criminals and underscored the state police had been transformed into an inert force through CPM’s diktats.
IUML MLA NA Nellikkunnu, while seeking leave to move an adjournment motion, attacked the government with a description of the crime and killings which took place in the state in recent times. He asked Pinarayi to change his style of functioning and pay more attention in handling the Home portfolio.
The Kasargod MLA was particularly agitated that several cases, including those of murders and thefts, remained unsolved in the border district, due to what he said was the fault of an inefficient police.
“God’s Own Country will have to entrust its law and order with God itself, given the present state of affairs,” Nellikkunnu said. The Chief Minister’s reply that cases were registered, investigation was progressing, clues were received and the like, only irked him further. “If people start feeling the police is ineffective and incapable to make apt interventions, then incidents like a group of women beating an aged lady or the robbing and murder of the elderly will happen,” he said.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, who led the walkout, lambasted Pinarayi for hoodwinking people by painting a rosy picture on the state’s law and order.“The Kerala police has excellent hands to make the state proud. But the issue is they have been turned into puppets and made to dance to the tunes of CPM. The police are demoralised as only CPM’s writ is running in the force now,” Chennithala said, quoting statistics to underscore Kerala’s crime rate was surpassing the national average in recent months.
Govt to consider direct import of crude oil
T’Puram: The government will “seriously consider” a proposal to directly import and refine crude oil and market the fuel to meet a part of the demand in the domestic market in the wake of the huge rise in price of petroleum products, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told the Assembly on Thursday. The proposal was put forward by CPM MLA James Mathew, taking into account the price of fuel, which has touched an all-time high.