Kerala government to go ahead with Vizhinjam project
All-party meet fails to reach consensus on handing over project to Adani group
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-06-04 07:26 GMT
Thiruvananthapuram: The all-party meeting held on Wednesday could not reach a consensus on handing over the Vizhinjam port project to the Adani group. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said after the meeting that the Government was committed to making the Vizhinjam project a reality at any cost.
With the Opposition reiterating its stand that they would oppose the move to hand over the project to the Adani group, the all-party meeting hit a roadblock. The Opposition was of the view that the decision to change the project from the landlord model to the private public participatory model was against the state’s interests.
The government completely agreed with the demand put forward by the Opposition that the project should be made transparent and the state’s interest should be totally protected. The documents the opposition had demanded were handed over to them. However, during meeting, the Opposition demanded certain other documents. “The issue is that these documents can be given only after signing the agreement,” Chandy said. “The current conditions in the agreement are far better than the agreement during the previous government. While the agreement during the LDF’s time was for outright lease of land, the present agreement was only for a licence to operate the project. We are not giving a single inch of land to them”, the Chief Minister said.
He clarified that three companies including the Adani group were invited for discussions regarding the project. It was based on these discussions that it was decided to hand over the project to Adani, Chandy said. The concerns of the Opposition would be addressed, he added.
CM parries query on CS’ Palmolein scam comment:
Chief minister Oommen Chandy, who had found nothing improper in the palmolein import deal, refused to directly take on chief secretary Jiji Thomson who observed that he had opposed the import of palmolein in 1992.
When reporters quizzed him about the chief secretary’s comment during the post-cabinet briefing here on Wednesday, the CM had already got up to leave and a blank smile was the only response.
When reporters were insistent, Mr Chandy perfunctorily remarked that T. H. Mustafa had already responded to Thomson. Musthafa, who was the then civil supplies minister, had branded the chief secretary a “traitor”. When a reporter asked whether the chief minister too had the same opinion, his inscrutable smile was the only reply.
Mr Chandy, who was the finance minister when the decision was taken to import palmolein, had consistently maintained that the deal was favourable to the state. Chief secretary Jiji Thomson was subjected to intense criticism at the cabinet meeting on Wednesday. Sources said that home minister Ramesh Chennithala was especially critical. The chief secretary said that his comments were taken out of context by the media.