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Scores even at the end of Lavalin debate

Special Correspondent

BACK IN THE AUGUST HOUSE: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy who is recovering from a hip fracture arriving at the Assembly on the last day of the last session on Tuesday night. This is the first time he is coming to the Assembly after he suffered the inju ry. Photo: C. Ratheesh Kumar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The six-hour-long twin debates on the Comptroller and Auditor General's remarks on the Pallivasal-Sengulam-Panniar renovation project and the Kuttiadi Augmentation Scheme, both involving SNC Lavalin of Canada, ended in somewhat of a draw with the treasury and Opposition benches using the occasion to score brownie points and neither being able to silence the other comprehensively.

The much-awaited fireworks did not materialise, despite it being the final day of the 11th Kerala Assembly, and little more than what is already known about the two deals came to light at the end of it all, notwithstanding the fact that the debates themselves were of a rare kind. Replying separately to the two discussions, Power Minister Aryadan Mohammed said the State would have received the outstanding amount of Rs.89.32 crores out of the grant of Rs.98.30 crores if the Government had negotiated directly with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and not with SNC Lavalin. He accused the Left Democratic Front (LDF) Government of having kept the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) in the dark about the grant component meant for the Malabar Cancer Centre.

While on the Kuttiadi augmentation scheme, the Minister said the State had only benefited from the relevant deal. In years of sufficient rainfall the inflow into the Kuttiadi reservoir would be sufficient to justify the additional investment. He claimed that the Government was able to secure from Canada the grant amount in full. The CAG had made adverse remarks about the non-receipt of the entire grant component only because the KSEB could not furnish details on time.

Initiating the discussion on the CAG's remarks relating to the Pallivasal -Sengulam- Panniar renovation scheme, M.M. Hassan (Congress) termed the deal the `biggest scam' in the State's history and pointed out that the Government and the KSEB entered into the deal disregarding the E. Balanandan Committee's recommendations against it. The blame for this and the losses that the State had suffered, he said, must rest with Pinarayi Vijayan, who was the Power Minister when the deal was struck. The Government must initiate prosecution measures against him, he added.

Making a spirited defence of the Opposition's case, CPI(M) Legislature Party deputy leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said the UDF could not evade responsibility for the deal as the Memorandum of Understanding and the Consultancy Agreement between the State and SNC Lavalin were signed when Mr. Karthikeyan was Power Minister. While according to the MoU, finance for the project was to be arranged by SNC Lavalin from the Export Development Corporation (EDC) and CIDA, the latter agreement envisaged provision of technical services by SNC Lavalin for management, engineering, procurement and construction supervision to ensure completion of the project within three years.

If the LDF had chosen not to follow-up on the agreement, the State would have faced arbitration measures in a Paris Court with resultant financial losses. The assistance for the cancer centre was not part of the deal. It was the result of a plea made by former Chief Minister E. K. Nayanar when he visited Canada for negotiations on the renovation project. If the State could not get Rs.89.32 crores from Lavalin, it is on account of the UDF Government's failure to follow-up the matter, he said.

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