Kerala - Kochi   

Protest against ‘delay’ in SmartCity project

KOCHI: If the CPI (M) and the Left Democratic Front are sincere about their promise to make amends in the wake of a stinging election result, they should allow the party general secretary Pinarayi Vijayan to be prosecuted in the Lavlin case, said leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy here on Monday.

Mr. Chandy was inaugurating a meeting, in front of the InfoPark complex, organised by the Youth Congress (I) to protest against the “delay” in making the SmartCity project a reality.

He alleged that the LDF government was steeped in corruption while development projects like SmartCity, Vizhinjam port and Kochi metro rail took a backseat.

The government led by V. S. Achuthanandan is solely responsible for the setbacks Kerala has suffered in the information technology sector, he told a large gathering of Youth Congress members who had come to join the protest action.

If the LDF government took the credit for bringing the SmartCity project to Kochi on its first anniversary, it was entirely silent on the project as it celebrates its third anniversary.

He also alleged that Kerala had slipped from position number two in the hierarchy of States with good investment climate in 2005 to 20 by 2008.

While neighbouring Karnataka earned Rs. 55,000 crore in IT export earnings last year, Kerala’s business was just Rs. 1,200 crore.

While the whole of India saw investment proposals worth Rs. 9.45 lakh crore last year, Kerala’s share was a meagre Rs. 45 crore.

Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra accounted for more than Rs. one lakh crore of these investment proposals, said Mr. Chandy. He also said that the Chief Minister was sitting on proposals for special economic zones while other States were busy wooing investments into their special economic zones in a big way.

D. Siddique, State President of the Youth Congress (I) spoke to explain the reasons for the protest action by the outfit.

K. Babu and V. D. Satheesan, MLAs; Convenor of the United Democratic Front P. P. Thankachan; DCC (I) President V. J. Paulose and former ministers Dominic Presentation and M. A. Kuttappan were among those who spoke.

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