The district committee of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) has urged Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to convene an all-party meeting to discuss issues relating to the setting up of the Vizhinjam port.
In a memorandum submitted to Mr. Chandy here on Wednesday, the LDF said the Vizhinjam project was in a state of paralysis. For the past two years, the Union government had not given the environmental clearance for the port. The global tender floated in 2010 was in limbo.
However, moves were now afoot to sabotage the very project, the memorandum alleged.
The hotel and resort lobby at Vizhinjam had submitted a complaint to the ombudsman of the project consultant that the project would have an adverse impact on the tourism and the fishing industry at Vizhinjam.
“We understand that an international port lobby has a hand in all these moves,” the memorandum said.
Unfortunately, a former finance secretary who put a spoke in the wheel of the project citing tourism and fishing as reasons was now slated to take charge as the Chief Secretary. This was a cause for concern.
The Chief Minister should take the lead to initiate immediate action on the project, the memorandum said.
Similarly, the scheme to widen the Karamana-Kaliyikkavila road, drawn up in 2010, was also at a standstill. Even repeated protests had had no effect on the government.
The fact that not even half of the Kazhakuttam-Kaliyikkavila National Highway bypass road, the work on which began in 1969, had been completed till date was a matter of shame for the capital city, the memorandum said.
The Chief Minister should convene a high-level meeting for this, it demanded.
