Alappuzha: Transport minister Thomas Chandy received ample support from bureaucrats and politicians in his realty deals in Kuttanad which sometimes drew from public funds. The embattled minister still manages to stay afloat thanks to the deals that have involved people’s representatives from the treasury and opposition benches.
The NCP leader, the representative of the Kuttanad assembly constituency, initiated the construction of the Valiyakulam-Zero Jetty road because it effectively led to his Lake Palace resort. His plan was to make the government pay for a road to his resort by the lake. Chandy and the then Alappuzha MLA A.A. Shukkoor recommended the road.
The Alappuzha municipality took over the project. Rajya Sabha MPs K.E. Ismail and P.J. Kurian released their local area development funds for the construction of the road. Ismail released the fund with the consent from the CPI district committee.
Ports and fisheries departments too allocated funds for the project during the term of the previous United Democratic Front government. The harbor engineering department built the road.
The same level of connivance was evident in the construction of a bund for the purpose of parking. Chandy’s resort invested in the bolstering of the bund on a request from the Karuveli paddy fields collective.
The village office and the agricultural office took the initiative to divert a stream and to relocate a motor shed. The water resources department drew up a plan for the construction of the bund, the collector’s report showed.
Chandy, however, has not responded to the report. He prefers to wait until chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan makes up his mind in the issue. The CMO has apparently warned him against speaking out for two days at least.
The minister has counseled his advocates with regard to the issue and seems to think that the collector’s report is not the final word.
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