THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ports Minister M. Vijayakumar has said interested parties may have worked behind the scene to ensure that the Vizhinjam International Transhipment Terminal does not get security clearance from the Centre.

The Minister told a news conference here on Friday that the State Government would go ahead with the project regardless of the bottlenecks and commission it without loss of time. He accused Union Surface Transport Minister T.R. Baalu of having caused confusion with his statements on the project, but refused to say whether Mr. Baalu had played any part in denial of clearance for the project.

The State Government, he said, had received a communication from the Centre on denial of clearance for the project. "The brief message is silent about the reasons for the decision and merely says the Centre has decided to allow the consortium of Chinese and Indian companies to participate in the project," he said.

Mr. Vijayakumar said one must read between the lines to get the real import of the message and the reasons for the Central decision. "Vizhinjam project has national and international significance. Once completed, it would be the best transhipment terminal in the country contributing around Rs. 1,000 crores to the Central Government annually and taking away roughly 30 per cent of the business of the Colombo port. Naturally interested parties might have played a part in denial of Central clearance for the project," he said.

`No going back'

Mr. Vijayakumar said the Government has convened an all party meeting here on August 16 to discuss future course of action and said all matters connected with it would be decided on the basis of the decisions of the all-party meeting. "We will not go back on the project. Nor will we allow it to be delayed further. We will go ahead with the project with people's support," he declared.

Replying to questions, the Minister wondered how Chinese companies could be kept out of such projects in the current global context.

The State Government had appraised the Centre about the difficulties that might arise if the project was not granted security clearance citing Chinese presence in the consortium, he said and added that the Government was open to all options to get the project going.

Meanwhile, the LDF leadership and various political parties have come out strongly against the Central Government decision. In a statement here, LDF convener Vaikom Viswan described as `strange' the argument that Chinese companies could not participate in consortium.

At a time when drinking water supply schemes are being implemented with Japanese participation and power projects with Canadian assistance it appears strange for the Centre to have denied security clearance citing the presence of two Chinese companies, he said.

In another statement, CPI State secretariat described denial of clearance as unjust and proof of Central neglect towards Kerala.

Pointing out that Chinese companies were cooperating with several similar projects in various parts of India, the CPI leadership wanted to know how the Centre could have denied clearance for the Vizhinjam at this late stage.

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