Listing out the development agenda of his party during the Statewide Nava Kerala March, Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member Pinarayi Vijayan here on Saturday sought to justify the stiff opposition to the computerisation drive in the initial phases maintaining that the series of agitations stemmed out of apprehensions raised by certain service organisations.
There had been campaigns in the past against the computerisation drive and IT projects owing to apprehensions about the drive hitting the services sector hard. But things had changed and it was time that Kerala accorded top priority to put in place the requisite infrastructure to fulfil the developmental aspirations of the State, he said.
A major priority area of governance was to give avenues for greater employment generation by providing a fillip to the IT sector in the face of Keralites moving out of the State seeking better job opportunities, a point strongly mooted by Mr. Vijayan, both while addressing the inaugural function of the march at Uppala on Friday and at a press conference here on Saturday.
Stating that Kerala lagged far behind in the IT sector compared to the growth registered in neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, he alleged that the delay in setting up infrastructure schemes by the Oommen Chandy government had slowed down the IT projects taken up by the previous Left Democratic Front governments. He accused the State government of making efforts to cover up corrupt deals as senior officials were coerced to suppress facts relating to cases such as solar panel scam.
Keeps mum on Lavalin
He declined to comment on the UDF government’s decision to approach the High Court seeking to speed up hearing of the CBI review petition of the politically sensitive SNC-Lavalin case in which he was acquitted by a lower court.
Mr. Vijayan, addressing a press conference here on Saturday, made it clear that he would not comment on the issue maintaining that the case was thoroughly debated in the past.
Mr. Vijayan, who began his second day programme as part of the march, addressed well-attended public meetings at Chattamchal, Kanhangad, and Pilicode in the district before entering Payyannur in Kannur.
