The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : UDF to boycott water project inauguration

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Tuesday, Mar 27, 2007
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

UDF to boycott water project inauguration

Special Correspondent

Says project was inaugurated in 2003

Thiruvananthapuram: The United Democratic Front (UDF) has decided to boycott the inauguration of the JBIC-sponsored drinking water project on the ground that it is being inaugurated for the second time.

In a statement here, District Congress Committee president V.S. Sivakumar, who is also the chairman of the UDF District Liaison Committee, and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader Beemapalli Rasheed said the then Chief Minister A.K. Antony had conducted the State-level inauguration of the JBIC project at Cherthala on August 17, 2003. He had inaugurated the district-level development work under the scheme on November 17, 2003 at Vattiyoorkavu.

The pipes for drinking water supply had already been laid and the current inauguration programme under the Left Democratic Front (LDF) was nothing but an attempt to mislead the public.

The JBIC project had first been mooted during the Nayanar Ministry's tenure and had been taken up for implementation during Mr. Antony's tenure as Chief Minister.

The LDF had tried to sabotage the project by raising allegations of corruption in the sanctioning of consultancy fee.

The Antony Government had reduced the consultancy fee to Rs.102 crore as against the Rs.129 crore agreed upon during the LDF rule, they said.

The JBIC-aided drinking water scheme is being implemented in Thiruvananthapuram, Cherthala, Kozhikode, Kannur and Meenadu.

The two leaders alleged that the new inauguration function had been planned because those who had opposed the project wanted to cover their embarrassment.

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