Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that development is the need of the hour and the government is trying its best to give the people what they want, despite the poor economic situation.
Inaugurating the first anniversary celebrations of the new Left Democratic Front (LDF) government here on Sunday, Mr. Vijayan said the State had seen an all-around development.
Citing that the economic situation is not good, he said the Central allocation had come down drastically. He wondered why the Opposition was silent on this.
“Why can’t the Opposition speak up for the State? Members of Parliament from the State are not raising the issue with the Centre,” the Chief Minister said attacking the Congress that boycotted the celebrations.
Mr. Vijayan said the LDF government did not show any bias on the development needs of the State. The Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) project worth ₹62,000 crore had been prepared. No distinction had been made between the LDF and the United Democratic Front (UDF) in allocating projects, he said.
Mr. Vijayan said that development was being accelerated by the construction of a national highway on one side, and a coastal highway and a hill highway on the other side.
With the coming of the Ernakulam-Bangalore corridor, there would be a huge industrial development. Likewise, Kovalam-Bekal inland waterway was crucial in tourism development. Efforts were being made to complete the waterway as soon as possible, he said.
Citing that higher education institutions were one of the most important factors in modernising the State, he said more educational institutions would soon come up in the State.
Students would have more facilities and 1,500 new hostel rooms would be created in universities. With educational centres improving, more students would come from abroad and 50 international hostel rooms would be built, he said.
The Chief Minister further said that an IT corridors had been planned and it would start this year itself. Schemes for youth were designed to provide employment to at least 20 lakh persons, he said.
On the SilverLine semi-high-speed railway project, Mr. Vijayan said that people were with the government. However, he criticised Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan, who approached people against the project.
“It is unfortunate that he took a negative approach,” Mr. Vijayan said. Pointing out that there was a healthy discussion on the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr. Vijayan wondered how Mr. Muraleedharan could take a stand against the SilverLine project.
