Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Aryadan's charges against Nayanar Government

Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Nayanar Government is party to the fraud played on the people of the State by the Canadian company SNC Lavalin, Minister for Electricity Aryadan Mohammed alleged here on Tuesday.

At a press conference, he said the company had stated in several communications that a grant of Rs. 98.3 crores would be provided to the Malabar Cancer Centre in Thalasserry when it was awarded the contract for modernisation and renovation of Pallivasal, Shengulam and Panniyar power projects.

The loan for executing the work was to come from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). SNC Lavalin's promise was that it would raise the grant on its own and from Canadian agencies when the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) signed the loan agreement with CIDA.

Mr. Mohammed said the hospital was supposed to come up concurrently with the work on the power projects, the first phase of which was to be completed by the end of 1999 and the second phase by the end of 2000. "The then Chief Minister, E.K. Nayanar, and Electricity Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, had gone to Canada to discuss the subject," he said.

The Minister said he had called the press conference in the context of the Canadian Trade Commission's recent statement that it was ready to mediate on the "dispute between SNC Lavalin and the Indian Government" on the issue of the grant.

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