The Enforcement Directorate’s arrest of M. Sivasankar, former Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, in the LIFE Mission housing project bribery case will not affect the ongoing project in any manner, Minister for Local Self-Governments M.B. Rajesh has said.
Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, he said it was a political allegation and such attempts to throw a spanner in the works had been made in the past too, but did not have the intended effect.
“This is not something that is happening for the first time. They have been making such allegations for a long time. It will continue to be made, but the LIFE project is not going to come to a halt. Those who had attempted to put an end to the project had made these allegations. We all know who had claimed that they would stop the project if they attain power. Let the investigation on this political allegation take its course. The government will continue with its efforts to provide houses to all,” said Mr. Rajesh.
He said the State government could have set aside three times the amount budgeted for the LIFE Mission project this year if the Union government had not financially constrained it by cutting down on central transfers as well as reducing the State’s borrowing limit, which together caused the State a loss of ₹40,000 crore.
“With the money allocated in the current Budget, the LIFE Mission will achieve a target of five lakh houses. Has any other State achieved such a milestone? No other State provides an amount of ₹4 lakh per house, as Kerala does for the LIFE Mission project. The Union government provides ₹72,000 in rural areas and ₹1.5 lakh in urban areas,” he said.
