Former Union Minister of State for Law P.C. Thomas staged a dawn-to-dusk fast here on Wednesday in protest against the alleged apathy of the State government in implementing the ‘Rapid transformation of aspirational districts project,’ a Union government-sponsored comprehensive development project, in Wayanad district.
Speaking after inaugurating the fast, Suresh Gopi, MP, said that 117 backward districts in 28 States, except Goa, had been selected for executing the project and Wayanad was the lone district selected from the State.
Though the project was launched in the country in the first week of January this year, it was yet to be launched in Wayanad, owing to laxity on the part of the State government. Such an approach by the State government would hamper the overall development of the hill district, he added.
He urged Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to take steps to execute the project in the district on a war footing.
Mr. Thomas, who is also a member of the national executive council of the National Democratic Alliance, said the NITI Ayog had selected 117 districts in the country for the project.
While the other States had started implementing the project nearly five months ago, Kerala and Bengal were yet to launch it, he said.
The State declined the NITI Ayog’s demand to appoint a nodal officer for the project saying that the Central government was yet to discuss the project with the States, he said.
Such a move would only help destroy the development aspirations of the district and the government should adopt steps to execute the project, he said.
