Govt. committed to reforms, says Pinarayi

Officials urged to change attitude towards development

Emphasising that the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front government will not back off from reforms, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that the approach of his government is to integrate reasonable rehabilitation and facilitate infrastructure development in the State.

Inaugurating the Panniyankara rail overbridge here on Sunday, Mr. Vijayan said the State had achieved great heights in health and education sectors when compared to other States. But, Kerala lagged behind in industrial growth and lack of infrastructure was attributed to this shortcoming.

“Some people will have to face difficulties when implementing development projects. But if we move backwards citing this reason, the growth of the State will be stunted. The inadequacy in the transportation sector will hold back the progress of the industrial sector. This will result in dissuading investors willing to invest in the State,” Mr. Vijayan said.

He said the government was committed to improving the transportation sector by expanding the network of inland waterways. Feasible projects would be put into service shortly, he added.

DMRC’s working style

The Chief Minister exhorted State government officials to change their attitude towards development. The State cannot depend solely on the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) for executing mega projects. Government officials could emulate the working style of the DMRC Principal Advisor E. Sreedharan and his team. The DMRC had been able to construct the rail overbridge saving Rs.10 crore for the government out of the original estimate allotted for the project. The objective of the contractors should not be to extract huge profits, Mr. Vijayan said.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Public Works G. Sudhakaran said the government had planned to execute road projects to the tune of Rs.70,000 crore. Among them was the project to convert the National Highway from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram into a four-lane carriageway. “This was the first time in the history of the State that a government had sanctioned such an amount for road projects,” the Minister said.

He said the Kerala Road Fund Board had been tasked to implement several multi-crore projects in the State. Steps will be taken to widen the Mananchira-Meenchanda road in connection with the execution of the light metro project in Kozhikode. Land acquisition will be fast-tracked. “However, the Revenue Department should show more enthusiasm so that the nod from the Centre would also be secured,” Mr. Sudhakaran added.