Govt. has opened doors for blacklist firms: Chennithala

‘Attempts on to privatise governance’

Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala on Thursday said the government had opened the door for “blacklisted” global consultancies to set up shop in the Secretariat, thereby paving the way for the privatisation of governance.

He said such “dubious” agencies threatened to usurp the administrative process. The Transport Secretary had initiated the move to allow the consultancy into the halls of power. He had penned a report in 2019 that the Secretariat staff lacked creativity and were unfit to meet deadlines. The Finance Department had approved the proposal.

Mr. Chennithala said the government had also sanctioned the appointment of three company officials as project manager expert, functional consultant, and technology consultant at a minimum monthly salary of ₹3.35 lakhs.

Their pay was higher than that of the Chief Secretary. The officials operating from the Secretariat would have unbridled access to government files, he said.

‘Flouting norms’

The government had enlisted the private firm to steer mega projects ignoring cautionary reports from watchdog agencies and legal luminaries.

Mr. Chennithala said the government hired consultancies to write tailor-made reports to suit the product and service specifications of global majors they wished to contract for critical infrastructure projects, including the e-mobility scheme.

The government had used the pandemic as a cover to nudge contracts in the direction of companies favoured by the political executive by circumventing the process of calling for global tenders and expression of interest. The consultancies helped the government move the goalposts to accord advantage to private firms preferred by those at the helm of the administration, he added.

Conspiracy theory

He slammed Mr. Vijayan for attempting to portray him as a conspiracy theorist intent on thwarting the developmental ambitions of the State. .

Mr. Chennithala said Mr. Vijayan should not expect the Opposition to turn a blind eye to governmental corruption.

Mr. Chennithala had raised a litany of charges against the LDF government, provoking a continuing war of words between him and Mr. Vijayan.