Govt. not for political vendetta: CM

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JULY 5. The Chief Minister, Mr. A. K. Antony, has said that his Government will not resort to political vendetta and retaliate against the Opposition as in Tamil Nadu.

Replying to the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the Governor for his address in the Assembly, the Chief Minister said the LDF Government had filed vigilance cases against ministers of the previous UDF Government on the basis of anonymous complaints. The UDF Government did not propose to pay back in the same coin, instead it would seek the cooperation of the Opposition in its efforts to come out of the financial and development crises, he said.

However, this did not mean that the Government would turn a blind eye towards any misdeeds of the previous Government. ``If there is proof, none would be saved. However, prosecution of Opposition leaders for alleged corruption was not the priority of the Government. The Government would do justice to the Opposition,'' he said.

The Chief Minister said the State would need an investment of Rs. 50,000 crores to come out of its backwardness. As the Government could not fund such an investment, private initiative was being sought in areas such as industries, information technology, education, tourism, transport and other infrastructure. The investment would be allowed on the basis of transparent guidelines.

Mr. Antony recalled that Kerala was the first to set up an electronics development corporation and software technology park. However, it lost its lead in these matters because of dogmatic inflexibility. The Government would now be working to make the State a leading centre in information technology.

In five years, the Government would ensure that the students would not have to go to other States for higher education by starting self-financing colleges. The self-financing colleges would admit 50 per cent of the students on merit.

A clear-cut plan would be carried out to solve the problems of farmers. The Government was aiming at creating 15 lakh jobs in industrial and other sectors, he said.

Mr. Antony said the Government was not for any confrontation with the Centre. A healthy relationship between the State and the Centre was needed for development of the State and the country as a whole. However, harmful policies of the Centre like import policy would be opposed tooth and nail.

Mr. Antony noted that Rs. 6,000 crores would be required to clear arrears of payments and short-term loans availed by the Government. The people would have to bear some of the burden, he said.

The Leader of the Opposition, Mr. V. S. Achuthanandan, intervened to say that the figures were exaggerated and money to repay all the dues was available. It was possible to solve the financial problems without hiking power tariffs and imposing other levies.

Mr. Antony asked why the LDF Government had not cleared them all if money was available. The Government had assumed office only 50 days ago. If it was so easy to solve the financial problem, why had the LDF Government not done that, he asked.

Mr. Antony said the cooperative societies in the State had lost Rs. 156 crores as refinance from NABARD because the State Government had not repaid Rs. 643 crores availed from the cooperatives. Mr. Achuthanadan intervened to say that the NABARD would restart refinance once the amount is paid.

Mr. Antony retorted that it was a cruelty against the farmers that Rs. 156 crores due to them by way of agriculture loans was denied to them for two years by the previous Government. Besides, the LDF Government had diverted Rs. 507 crores raised as Infrastructure Investment Fund.

Plus Two teachers had been denied salaries for the past two-and-a-half years. A sum of Rs. 210 crores was now needed to repay the arrears while only Rs. 15 crores had been earmarked in the budget. ``We will solve this problem too, though it might take some time,'' Mr. Antony said.

The previous Government had also defaulted payment to suppliers of medicines to Government Hospitals and hence they had discontinued supplies. The noon meal scheme for poor children in the State had been stalled because Rs. 100 crores was in arrears.

As many as 85,000 people who were building their houses could not complete their houses before monsoon as the HUDCO discontinued loans. This was because the Government had defaulted repayment to HUDCO, Mr. Antony said.

After the Chief Minister's reply, the House passed the motion for 89 votes against 35.

Earlier, the Electricity Minister, Mr. Kadavoor Sivadasan, said a hike in power tariff had become necessary because of the actions of the previous Government. The figures quoted by the Opposition in their alternative documents were not there in any of the official records.

According to the budget documents of the KSEB, prepared during the LDF rule, the deficit of the KSEB was Rs. 1,925 crores. The budget had projected an additional revenue of Rs. 800 crores from tariff revision. The balance was proposed to be met from Government subsidies and grants, the Minister said.

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