KOLLAM: Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan will lay the foundation stone for the Titanium sponge unit of the Kerala Minerals and Metals Limited (KMML) at a function to be held at the KMML complex at Chavara near here on Wednesday.

The inaugural function will be presided over by Minister for Water Resources N.K. Premachandran who is also the Chavara MLA.

Industries Minister Elamaram Karim will deliver the keynote address. The Titanium sponge unit would come up at a cost of Rs.100 crore with financial support from the Indian Space Research Organisation. Vikram Sarabai Space Centre Director B.N. Suresh will deliver a special address at the inaugural function. Support in terms of technology will be provided by the Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory. The plant will be commissioned in twenty months and its initial capacity will be 500 tonnes.

Leaders of the UDF alleged here that the foundation stone laying function was being converted into a Left Democratic Front (LDF) function. At a press conference here on Tuesday, district Congress committee (DCC) president Sooranad Rajasekharan said none of the UDF leaders were invited to attend the function. He said the Government should have invited Defence Minister A.K. Antony to the function. Mr. Rajasekharan said though the INTUC was the biggest union at the KMML, the president of the union, Vayalar Ravi was not invited.

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