P.C. George, MLA, has urged the State government to ensure transparency in allotment of equity in the Kannur International Airport project, alleging that there are moves to dish out shares among a few ‘big sharks’.
Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Mr. George said that the reported remarks of the Industries Secretary T. Balakrishnan at the Pravasi Bharati Conference that only the rich invest in the airport project were with the full knowledge of the Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and Industries Minister Elamaram Kareem.
Those remarks were a vindication of the ‘secret agenda’ of the government, he said adding that the Board Meeting of the Kannur International Airport Ltd. (KIAL) on November 10 chaired by Chief Minister V.S.
Achuthanandan, who is its chairman, decided that Leela Group, Infrastructure and Financial Service Ltd. and Mennen Aviation and Hospitality Ltd. would be allotted 16 per cent of equity (Rs. 80 crore) each.
The MLA said that when this issue was raised at the Assembly, Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, who is also member of the KIAL director board, had said that the decision of the director board had been corrected. He said that the decision of the director board was yet to be changed.
Though the Home Minister told the Assembly that no individual would be allotted more than a fixed equity, the Industries Secretary said in New Delhi that there was no limit for the equity in the airport project and that the minimum equity limit per individual was fixed at Rs. 2,00,100. With their statements that the ‘big sharks’ would not be allowed to have control in the airport project, the Chief Minister and the Home Minister were misleading the Assembly and the people, he said.
Mr. George said that the KIAL had not issued any advertisement or press release for mobilising the equity for the project. It was from the Industries Secretary’s speech in New Delhi that the public came to know that requests for shares could be submitted till January 31, he said adding that the government’s stand was that the company could not go for public issue under the guidelines of Securities and Exchange Board of India.
He said that the deadline for buying equity was kept a secret so far to ensure that the ‘big sharks’ and their benamis could buy major share in the airport project.
The non-resident Keralites in Kannur had already expressed their willingness to mobilise Rs. 100 crore, he said adding that the moves to allot the equity to a few ‘big sharks’ were in violation of the guidelines of the Civil Aviation Ministry and the Central Vigilance Commission. He also said that these moves would be countered by political and legal measures.
