Oommen Chandy slams Kerala govt's extravagant spending

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Senior Congress leader and former chief minister Oommen Chandy has alleged that the state government was spending extravagantly to celebrate its fourth anniversary, contrary to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan's public statement that there would be no such celebrations due to severe financial crisis.
"The government is spending Rs 2.5 crore for printing brochures hailing its achievements in three presses.Around 74 lakh copies of the brochure 'Subhiksham Bhadram Surakshitham' meant to be distributed during the CPM's house visits are being prepared with government money," Chandy said in an article comparing the four years' of LDF government with the previous tenure under his leadership, which was released for publication on Thursday. "Can't the government, which tells NRKs returning from abroad to bear the cost of institutional quarantine, avoid such extravagant spending instead?" the former CM asked.
KPCC on Thursday decided to launch a protest against the government's decision to levy quarantine fee from NRKs. On Friday, there will be dharna in front of all district collectorates against the move to levy quarantine fee. In Thiruvananthapuram, the dharna will be in front of the secretariat and will be inaugurated by opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala. KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran will preside over.
Ridiculing the CM's claim that the government has achieved in four years whatever it was supposed to in five years, Chandy said people had nothing to expect more from this government. "Now, with this false list of achievements, the CPM government has begun its campaign for the next election that too spending from the state exchequer," he said.
Chandy alleged that the government failed to implement the promises made in the LDF's election manifesto, 'but acted in total contradiction'. Chandy said the government sabotaged the UDF's target of setting up more medical colleges, besides weakening several useful projects like Karunya, rehabilitation of Endosulfan victims, Sukrutham, Arogyakiranam and Neera.