The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : LDF accused of undermining development of capital city

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 08, 2006
ePaper

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

LDF accused of undermining development of capital city

Special Correspondent

Venugopal says delay in land acquisition will lead to legal problems

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: P.K. Venugopal, DCC leader and former chairman of the Thiruvananthapuram Development Authority (TRIDA), on Tuesday accused the Left Democratic Front (LDF) Government of lack of commitment to the development of the capital city.

Addressing a press conference here, he said the Government had not only cut off funds for the Capital Region Development Programme but also crippled the project machinery. "While the Cabinet sub-committee for the programme is yet to be reconstituted, the empowered committee of officials has been reduced to a powerless appendage. The Theerapadham Secretariat and the Office of the Adviser to the Government on Urban Projects, which were in charge of coordinating the project, are no longer functioning. Land acquisition proceedings have also slowed down," he said.

Mr.Venugopal said the delay in land acquisition for the City Roads Improvement Scheme would lead to technical and legal problems. "The Government may even be sued for breach of contract," he pointed out. He said the absence of a grievance redressal mechanism had led to stiff resistance from traders facing displacement for the roads project.

"The UDF Government had constituted a special committee to resolve the problems in land acquisition. The committee managed to settle a large number of cases before they reached the court. Over the last six months, there has not been a single review meeting to assess the progress of land acquisition proceedings. During this period, the Government has not taken up any new project," he said.

Mr.Venugopal said the development of the Nandavanam-Thampanoor-Overbridge, Pattom-Ulloor-Kochulloor, Pattom-Kuravankonam-Kowdiar and Vanross-Oottukuzhy roads were held up because of the failure to release funds for land acquisition.

He urged the Government to revive the project monitoring mechanism and ensure time- bound completion of the programme.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Kerala