Thursday, 11 October 2012

Airport row: CPI wants Manmohan to explain


Cites BJP’s remarks on Vadra and the project
Citing BJP leader O. Rajagopal’s remarks on the links Congress high command and Robert Vadra had with the private parties behind the Aranmula airport project, CPI district secretary P. Prasad sought an explanation from the PMO and the Congress (I) on the matter.
Mr. Rajagopal had reportedly made the remark while inaugurating a public meeting here last week.
Citing the remark, Mr. Prasad said in a statement on Wednesday that the Prime Minister’s Office and the Congress(I) leadership needed to explain themselves for the “over-enthusiasm and undue interest” the Congress showed in the project.
Clearence
According to Mr Prasad, the authorities of the Chennai-based KGS Aranmula International Greenfield Airport Limited had stated at a press conference in Pathanamthitta that Prime Minister’s Advisor T.K.A. Nair, had helped them a lot in getting the Centre’s clearance for the airport project.
It was an open secret that the private company had managed to obtain clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment by ‘misleading’ the authorities and with strong support from the politico-bureaucratic higher-ups in Delhi, alleged Mr Prasad.
Environment report
The Environment Impact Assessment report, submitted to the Centre, had not even mentioned that the land identified for the project involved paddy fields and wetland, he alleged. Mr Prasad said Prof P.J. Kurien, Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha; Anto Antony, local MP, and K. Sivadasan Nair, MLA, were acting as spokespersons of the private company.
The public ire against these people’s representatives in the village was so intense that they were unable to freely attend public meetings in Aranmula as earlier, he added.
According to Mr Prasad, a probe was needed into what prompted these public figures to extend blind and unconditional support to the controversial airport project when the entire village, which constituted their strong vote base, strongly opposed the project.
Chandy backing firm
Mr Prasad further alleged that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, too, was out to protect the interests of the private company by consciously sidelining his promise given to the villagers for denotifying the nearly 2,500 acres of land in Aranmula that had been illegally notified as industrial area in February, 2011.
No right
The CPI leader said Mr Chandy had no moral right to continue in office, as he had purposefully misled even the State Assembly on his promise to cancel the denotification of the area.
He also alleged that the UDF government was making every attempt to legalise the irregularities and wrongdoings carried out by the private parties in the name of the airport project in Aranmula.

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