The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : UDF stand vindicated: Chennithala

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Thursday, Dec 27, 2007
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

UDF stand vindicated: Chennithala

Special Correspondent

Alleged graft in Merchiston land deal

Says it is tacit admission of graft charges
Says Minister, officials had role in land sale

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Ramesh Chennithala has said the State government’s decision to provide alternative land at Valiamala, near Thiruvananthapuram, for setting up the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) is a tacit admission that the UDF’s charges of corruption in the Merchiston Estate deal was correct.

In a statement here on Wednesday, Mr. Chennithala said the government’s decision had defeated the attempts of certain vested interests to illegally sell the Merchiston Estate to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

The estate was vested with the government since it was ecologically fragile. It was but transferred illegally to the ISRO by a private individual, Mr. Chennithala said.

The Forest Minister, officials of the Forest and Revenue Departments and the ISRO had a role in the illegal sale. The Chief Minister’s prevaricating approach to the entire issue only served to add to the suspicion that something was fishy about the deal, he said. It was in this context that the Congress and the UDF had demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation, the KPCC president added.

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