THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala has posed 10 questions to the chief minister on the revival of the RestStop project of Overseas Keralites Investment and Holding (OKIH) Ltd, which caters to the leisure and business needs of travellers. Chennithala said that there was a huge scam behind handing over government land to private parties. “When I was the opposition leader in 2021, I had opposed the project which led to its cancellation,” he said.
In 2021, it was decided to hand over one acre of land to a private party which snowballed into a major controversy. Later the project was dropped. Chennithala said that the project has been brought back ignoring the opposition posed by the revenue and law departments. OKIH had signed an agreement with Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) to develop RestStop wayside amenities at 30 locations across the state. Rs 1,000 crore is the projected investment. Chennithala alleged that the chief minister has decided to provide 150 acres on the sly to private parties in 30 places.
“The decision to part with the land completely was taken at a high-level meeting attended by the chief minister. The project was envisaged by the CM’s former principal secretary, M Sivasankar. This is against the decision of the CPM. The weird order says that a company has been formed under NORKA-Roots which implies that the land will be sold so that the funds can be pocketed,” said Chennithala.
He also demanded to know how Baju George, the new managing director of OKIH, had visited foreign countries. He also sought clarification on how the new MD was appointed after he was ousted from the Smart City project.
OWNERSHIP WILL REMAIN WITH GOVT: OKIH
T’ Puram: OKIH has refuted the allegations raised by Chennithala. In a statement here, OKIH said that the ownership of the land will always be with the state government and Chennithala’s allegations were baseless and against facts. The statement says that OKIH was constituted at the Loka Kerala Sabha which is a 100 pc- government-owned company.
The project would see NRKs being able to invest it on a profit basis and those returning from abroad would be able to show off their skills and expertise. “Our main role is to set up RestStops in 30 regions across the state. Restaurants, food court, convenience store, clinic, fuel station, vehicle repair centres, caravan parking, high-end toilet blocks, motel rooms, travellers’ lounge, and conference and meeting rooms will be set up. The project is being envisaged in such a way that there will be job creation for local people,” said the statement.