Convene all-party meet: Vijayakumar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former Ports Minister M Vijayakumar has demanded that the UDF Government should convene an all-party meeting on the Vizhinjam seaport project urgently.  In a statement here, he said that if the project is to materialise, the steps taken by the previous LDF government have to be resumed actively. Development is a continuous process and transparency in development works is important. The prestigious Vizhinjam project should not become a tool for cheap political games, he said. The very act of the Ministry of Environment and Forests rejecting an application filed by the LDF government for getting the ToR for the environment clearance approved, but clearing the same after the UDF came to power, reeks of cheap political one-upmanship, he said. Due to this, Kerala lost a precious eight months which could have been effectively used for getting the environmental clearance for the project, he said. Vijayakumar’s comments have come in the wake of Ports Minister K Babu announcing that the MoEF has issued site-specific ToR for the Vizhinjam project at its last meeting on June 23. ‘’The people of Kerala are hopeful that this project will materialise. It is at such at a time that new controversies are erupting,’’ Vijayakumar, who was Ports Minister for much of the LDF term before handing over the portfolio to V Surendran Pillai, said. ‘’The UDF Government will have to answer to the people of Kerala if the Vizhinjam project is delayed further due to unnecessary political issues,’’ he said.