THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan illegally intervened to exempt a firm promoted by Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL), from land ceiling norms for which he received Rs 100 crore as kickback from the Kochi-based mining company, Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan has alleged.
In what is termed as part III of his allegations against the CM, Kuzhalnadan told reporters on Monday that Pinarayi went out of his way to revive a request from CMRL seeking exemption for Kerala Rare Earths and Minerals Ltd (KREML) from the Land Reforms Act. The CM allegedly interfered in the affairs of the revenue department, which was not directly under him, to revive the proposal that had been rejected twice earlier, Kuzhalnadan said
The Muvattupuzha MLA also accused the CM of permitting CMRL to quarry mineral-rich sand at “throwaway prices” from the backwater channel leading to the spillway at Thottapally in Alappuzha. The mining by CMRL in 2020 cost the exchequer Rs 40,000 crore even by conservative estimates, he alleged.
Linking Pinarayi’s ‘intervention’ to the controversial payments made by CMRL to his daughter Veena’s IT firm Exalogic Solutions, Kuzhalnadan said the real culprit behind the CMRL payoff case was the CM himself. “In comparison, the corruption involving his daughter is of a smaller magnitude,” Kuzhalnadan said.
The MLA said KREML had purchased over 60 acres of land in Alappuzha to construct a mining and mineral complex. It sought to exempt 51 acres from the Kerala Land Reforms Act that limits holding by a company to 15 acres. He said the exemption was sought in 2012 under the clause that the project served public interest. KREML’s proposal was rejected twice by the district level committee in 2012 and 2021, he said. “CMRL reportedly wrote to the CM to reconsider the application for exemption. Instead of forwarding it to the revenue department, Pinarayi convened a meeting to facilitate reconsideration of the application by the district-level committee,” Kuzhalnadan alleged.
The MLA also challenged ministers P Rajeeve and M B Rajesh to a debate on his allegations.
Responding to CMRL ‘challenge’, Rajeeve places UDF in the dock
Responding to Kuzhalnadan’s ‘challenge’ to debate CMRL payoffs allegations, Industries Minister P Rajeeve said the process of granting a mining licence to the company began in 2002, during the A K Antony government’s tenure, and was completed in 2004, when Oommen Chandy was chief minister. Rajeeve asked Kuzhalnadan to introspect on who had given ‘largesse’ to the company. In a Facebook post, the minister termed as ‘absurd’ Kuzhalnadan’s charge that the CM used his special powers and obtained an advice from the advocate general to favour the company