Ministers and leaders of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) are unleashing a false campaign against the Kochi Corporation, governed by the United Democratic Front (UDF), to cover up the anti-development policies and inefficiency of the State government, V.D. Satheesan, MLA, has alleged.
Addressing the media here on Friday, Mr. Satheesan, who is in charge of the UDF’s election machinery for the Ernakulam bypoll, said Left leaders and Ministers were lamenting over the condition of roads owned by the Kochi Corporation while ignoring the damaged National Highways and roads under the Public Works Department from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram.
“Eighty per cent of roads under the corporation were in a bad shape when the UDF ended the LDF rule in the civic body after a gap of 33 years in 2010. Around ₹83 crore assistance was sanctioned in three phases during the Congress-led rule, while the Left government failed to earmark funds for the repair and maintenance of roads under the Kochi Corporation after it came to power,” he said.
Mr. Satheesan alleged that the government, which had assured ₹2,000 crore support for local bodies following the heavy rain in 2018 and this year, had not released even a single penny till now. But the UDF government had sanctioned ₹1,076 crore for the construction and repair of roads at the local-self government level, he said.
