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VS: monthly details of projects to be published

Thrissur: Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said on Sunday that the government was considering monthly publication of the progress of projects and the expenditure involved.

He was addressing a meeting to lay the foundations for the District Planning Committee office here.

“Details of outlay and expenditure are not official secrets.” The Chief Minister said there were serious lapses in the implementation of projects. “Technical complexities and complicated government orders trouble representatives of local bodies. Official constraints and vacant posts add to the problems. During the last phase of some projects, there is a mad rush to spend allocated funds. Completion of projects does not get top priority. The situation is conducive to corruption. Tardy implementation affects even projects funded by the Centre and various foreign agencies.”

Mr. Achuthanandan called for streamlining district planning offices.

“The Tenth Plan suffered from financial mismanagement and dilution of content. Such lapses, which affected people’s planning, should be avoided during the Eleventh Plan. People’s representatives, and not officials, should lead people’s planning initiatives.”

Inaugurating the fish harvest at Adattu fields, he said that inland aquaculture as part of the ‘Oru Nellum Oru Meenum’ rotational farming system should not destroy paddy farming. “The programme should be implemented after allaying fears of farmers. I say this having seen the situation in Alappuzha.”

Releasing a video documentary on Sree Kerala Varma College, he said that capitalist funds were destroying the State’s education sector.

“Professional courses alone do not make our education sector complete. Humanities should not be ignored. The State needs a socially active and politically conscious student community. Campuses should come alive through literature, philosophy, knowledge and politics,” the Chief Minister said.

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