The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : No strife in party, says Mons Joseph

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 20, 2007
ePaper

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

No strife in party, says Mons Joseph

Over his nomination as Minister

Review meet on public works related to Sabarimala pilgrimage on Monday
Review of road work in Ernakulam and Kozhikode on October 26 and 29

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Public Works Minister Mons Joseph on Friday denied any strife in the Kerala Congress (Joseph) over his nomination as a Minister.

“We would continue as a family,” the Minister told a meet-the-press organised by the Press Club here.

The Minister said he had not stated that his choice was not through a draw of lots. He had only said that the decision was unanimous.

Denying that V. Surendran Pillai, who had lost out to him in the race for the ministership, had kept away from the swearing-in ceremony on Thursday, Mr. Joseph noted that the Mr. Pillai had attended the party meeting in the morning and together proceeded to the venue of the ceremony. “I did not observe when everybody left.”

He said that it was his personal decision that he would quit the ministership in favour of party chairman P.J. Joseph if the chairman was acquitted of charges against him. The Minister said that he would address the problems of road network in the State in three stages. The repairs would be carried out on an urgent basis.

Then, steps would be taken to ensure that the roads remain in good condition in the coming years. After that, the future development of the road infrastructure would have to be planned for.

Mr. Joseph declined to commit a date for completion of the repairs. Nor would he say whether an expressway would be developed.

Policy decisions

The State required quality roads but policy decisions were to be taken by the government on the type of roads. Corruption would not be tolerated.

He said that some roads were entrusted to the district and block panchayats as the Public Works Department did not have budget provisions for their upkeep. The confusion over the maintenance of those roads would be looked into.

He said that another round of discussions would be held with Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan in the chair for resuming the work on the Kerala State Transport Project. A meeting would be held at Pathanamthitta on October 22 for reviewing public works related to the Sabarimala pilgrimage. Meetings were also planned in Ernakulam and Kozhikode on October 26 and 29 respectively to review ongoing works.

Central fund

The issues over development of the national highways, he said, would have to be discussed with the Centre. The State was not getting its full share in Central Road Fund while other States were getting large sums.

While there were differences with the Centre over future development of roads, there was nothing in the way of the Centre allocating funds for the existing roads.

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

Kerala