Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Chandy: VS trying to evade issues

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy on Thursday alleged that Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan was trying to evade the issues raised by the Farmers Debt Relief Commission by launching an attack against it.

In a statement here, Mr. Chandy said the Commission had pointed out in its annual report that the State government had rejected some of its recommendations. The annual report was submitted to the government to be tabled in the Assembly. Instead of responding to its views, the Chief Minister was trying to put the commission in the dock. A sum of Rs.129.5 crore had been allocated in the budget for 2007-08 and the Commission had recommend debt relief to the tune of Rs.16 crore for 4,139 persons. But the entire amount was not utilised, he said.

The Opposition leader wanted to know the stand of Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac on this matter. Agriculture Minister Mullakkara Ratnakaran had admitted in the State Assembly that no amount had been spent on providing relief on the basis of the Commission’s recommendations.

Mr. Chandy said the Commission had wanted the government to declare Wayanad district and Kuttanad taluk distressed and cardamom, coffee, tea and areca nut distressed crops. Except for declaring Wayanad a distressed district, the government rejected all the other recommendations of the Commission. Other than declaring Wayanad a distressed district, the government was not prepared to extend any financial concession to the farmers in the district.

Mr. Chandy accused the State government of converting the high profile Commission that had been installed amid much fanfare and a success story into a paper organisation.

The Chief Minister should respond to the pin-pointed remarks of the Commission and reply why the government had failed to distribute relief to the farmers, he said.

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