Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala on Saturday said the State government should institute a judicial inquiry into the multi-crore deal between the Kerala Shipping and Inland Navigation Corporation (KSINC)and a U.S.-based company to build deep-sea fishing trawlers.
The deal was withdrawn because the Opposition had exposed the “cheating of fishers” by the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government in the State, he alleged at a press conference here on Saturday.
UDF convener M.M. Hassan, who was present at the press conference, said that two rallies were being organised in the coastal areas of the State to highlight the “attempt by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government to cheat fishers”. One rally from Kasaragod and another from Vizhijnam would convene at Vypeen, where the fishers would be addressed by former chief minister Oommen Chandy on March 6, he said.
The rally from Vizhinjam will be led by former minister Shibu Baby John while T.N. Prathapan, MLA, will lead the rally from Kasaragod. Senior Congress leaders K.V. Thomas, K.P. Dhanapalan and K. Babu will participate.
Mr. Chennithala said the State was surprised by the Chief Minister’s statement that he did not know about the deal to build deep-sea fishing trawlers between a U.S.-based company and a State government agency. The Chief Minister and the Fisheries Minister have been trying to mislead the people, he said.
He said the State Cabinet appeared to be suffering from “forgetfulness” because the Chief Minister appeared to be without knowledge about what has been happening in the departments he controlled. He compared the incident regarding the deep-sea fishing agreement to the one involving an American company for sharing details on COVID-19 patients in the State.
Mr. Chennithala greeted all fishers unions that took part in a hartal in coastal areas on Saturday to protest against the fishing deal.
