By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : The Kerala assembly witnessed over two hours of heated debate followed by an opposition walkout Tuesday over a 2006 decision by Oommen Chandy to set up a anti-pollution plant during previous stint as chief minister. Chandy has refused a CBI probe.
Soon after question hour, Thomas Issac of the CPI-M sought leave for an adjournment motion to discuss a letter that surfaced in the media Monday about a letter which Chandy had written to chairman of the Supreme Court monitoring committee in 2005-2006 as chief minister to extend the time to commission a pollution control plant at the state-owned Travancore Titanium Products Limited (TTPL) here.
The opposition alleged that this was a corrupt deal to give the nod to a central public sector unit to set up the plant at an inflated cost of Rs 256.10 crore.
Chandy said that the whole country is discussing corruption and he wanted the debate to be telecast live.
This is the first time that this government has given the nod for an adjournment notion to be taken up for debate. Moving the motion, Issac said that undue haste was shown by Chandy who signed the deal for a pollution plant at the fag end of his last term.
“Later the entire project was scrapped by our government when the implementing agency hiked the project cost from Rs 256.10 crore to Rs.414 crore. The CAG has also pointed out serious flaws in the contract,” Issac said.
“There is a Rs.100 crore corruption deal in this and you should resign and order a CBI probe,” demanded Issac.
The then state industries minister Elamaram Kareem who in 2007 decided to scrap the project said the deal was a corrupt one. “On two occasions we asked the CBI to investigate this scam but it was not allowed by them,” said Kareem.
Chandy said he is ready to face all consequences. “Yes, I wrote three letters to the chairman of the monitoring committee, it was done because that committee had asked that if something is not done before April 26, 2006, the TTPL would have to close down like 22 other factories closed then by this committee. On April 25, they faxed me a letter stating that they agreed not to close down our company. Moreover, all the trade unions came to me pleading for help to intervene and save the company and I acted because I am not a person who will sit idle when immediate action has to be taken,” said Chandy.
Leader of opposition V.S. Achuthanandan intervened and asked if the government was willing to order a CBI probe. Chandy, in his reply, said that the matter is being probed by the court and it would be premature to order the CBI to look into it.
At this, Achuthanandan led the entire opposition out of the house and through a voice vote, the treasury bench dismissed the adjournment motion.