By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : Rice at Rs.1 per kg to BPL families, three lakh ration cards issued, 24/7 access… Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy’s office says the Congress-led government has implemented most of the programmes drawn out for the first 100 days in power.
The United Democratic Front (UDF) took office in May. Chandy’s office says the state has fulfilled 100 of the planned 107 programmes.
An official said the chief minister has maintained a 24X7 functioning of his office. Anyone can call and air his grievances. There is also live webcast of his office in order to ensure transparency.
“We have taken forward long-standing mega projects like the Rs.5,348 crore Vizhinjam port and the Rs.1,200 crore Kannur international airport,” said Minister for Ports and Excise K. Babu.
The opposition doesn’t agree.
Marxist leader and former chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan said that many of the programmes the Chandy government took up were a mere follow up of what his government had begun.
Labour Minister Shibhu Baby John said: “We paid Rs.163 crore by way of pensions, bonus to all employees and labourers who come under my department.”
But it has not been a smooth ride for Chandy — on all fields.
When a special vigilance court ordered a re-investigation in his role as finance minister in 1992 in the palm oil import case, it appeared Chandy would quit.
He gave away the vigilance portfolio to his cabinet colleague Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan.
Former finance minister and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) legislator Thomas Issac said that Chandy can have the rare credit of being a chief minister who during the 100 days even contemplated to resign.
“So this in itself shows what sort of governance it is,” said Issac.