Fix responsibility for those who forfeited Rs 125 crore

By O J George

Kottayam: Politicalwallahs speak eloquent about Lavalin case, pro and con. The gravamen of the allegation is that Rs 100-crore assistance promised to Malabar Cancer Centre was lost as part of the SNC Lavalin deal.

Let the court adjudicate about it, whether Pinarayi Vijayan is the only political beneficiary or Karthikeyan is also involved. Perhaps none may be corrupt, about which also the court has to arrive at the findings.

But are we simply writing off Rs 125 crore for the Thiruvananthapuram capital development scheme as arbitration compensation to the company for failure to discharge the responsibilities in accordance with the provisions of the agreement?

The directive of the Arbitration Council to the State government to pay compensation of Rs. 125 crore to Thiruvananthapuram Road Development Company Ltd for contractual violation has led to a war of words between the Left Democratic Front and the United Democratic Front, with the rival fronts accusing the other of causing loss to the exchequer.

The Rs 225-crore project had been bogged down due to failure on the part of the UDF government to complete the land acquisition before the deadline in November 2006, according to the LDF.

While the UDF showed undue haste in entering into the contract, it did little to acquire the necessary land, the LDF alleged.

The project was revived and land acquisition was expedited after the LDF government assumed office.

The UDF accused the LDF government being responsible for the loss. A press note issued by the IUML called for recovering the compensation from Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac and department officials responsible for the situation.

The government was still not in a position to fix a deadline for the project, even if the arbitration award was paid.

The crucial issue is not the delay in land acquisition, the company was ready to honour the contract if the government cleared the arrears for the work completed. The LDF government’s refusal to clear Rs. 30 crore due to the company complicated matters, leading to arbitration.

On Monday there was a spat between Opposition Leader Oommen Chandy and PWD Minister Mons Joseph regarding the loss of Rs 125 crore to the exchequer.

By simply engaging in a blame game, Mons Joseph or Finance Minister Thomas Isaac or whoever else cannot absolve themselves of the responsibility.

If we had engaged thousands of traditional coolies spending this much of amount, better results could have been obtained in the developmental front of Kerala. Are we not penny-wise and pound-foolish?

Mons Joseph waxes eloquent on high-flown projects like Mission 2010, Rs 3 crore slab replacement project and what else. Did he complete anything?

Thomas Isaac had released some money to the PWD department immediately after Mons Joseph assumed office and some tarring works were undertaken.
P J Joseph and T U Kuruvilla could not do so because Thomas Isaac had not released money to them.

The LDF, it seems, had thought inclusion of Mons Joseph would attract the church to the ideas of the front. That Mons Joseph was a nobody in matters of the church was proved right during the Lok Sabha elections. That is a different matter.

Someone should account for the loss of Rs 125 crore to the people.

Mind you, Thomas Isaac had announced certain popular projects in the budget without specific allocations. He had no money. If we lose money like this, should there be no responsibility?