Kerala CM, Ministers flew abroad 85 times in past 6.5 years

Pinarayi Vijayan
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Photo: Manorama

Thiruvananthapuram: The Chief Minister and the Ministers of Kerala have made 85 foreign trips over the past 6 and a half years of LDF governance. Of these, CM Pinarayi Vijayan tops the list with 15 foreign visits, while Kadakampally Surendran is the second with 13 and E P Jayarajan third with 7 foreign visits.

During the first term of the Pinarayi Government, the Ministers submitted bills to the tune of Rs 49.23 lakh under air travel expenditure. Many bills are yet to be submitted. If these are to be added up, the total air travel expenses for the Ministers will rise further. The expense incurred for stay and other necessities are exclusive of this.

Four Ministers – Thomas Chandy, C Ravindranath, Mathew T Thomas and E Chandrashekharan - have visited abroad only once during the term. 

In the second term of the Pinarayi Government, the CM, Ministers P A Mohammed Riyas and J Chinchu Rani have travelled abroad. There is no clear answer to how Kerala benefitted from these foreign trips.

Floriculture development, farming below the sea level, increasing the shelf life of plantain which may help in the export of bananas and flood control models like Room for River were discussed during the CM’s European trip. Asked whether any of these have been implemented in Kerala, the casual response from the respective departments is that ‘it is being implemented’.

Foreign trip
Illustration: Manorama

The CM and team travelled in Europe for 3 days each in Netherlands and Switzerland, and a day each in France and UK, in May 2019. The CM visited UAE 6 times. M Sivasankar, former principal secretary to the CM, had actively joined all these trips, leading to later controversies and allegations. The CM visited the USA for 4 times. Other foreign places the CM visited include Bahrain, Japan and South Korea.

Kadakampally Surendran who was the Tourism Minister then had travelled to Germany, France, Italy, Vatican, Spain, Kazakhstan and Japan among other destinations. During all governments, the Ministers handling the Tourism portfolio are found to be travelling to foreign destinations the most. 

Although discussions were held on starting Hydrogen Fuel Cell manufacturing units of Toyota automobile company during the Japan trip by the CM and Minister A K Saseendran, it has not begun yet.

Even if Kadakampally Surendran and his team had visited foreign destinations to introduce Kerala’s tourism possibilities abroad, the tourism sector was shattered by the outbreak of COVID.



 Pinarayi London
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had opened the KIIFB's masala bond trade in the London Stock Exchange on May 17, 2019.

KIIFB gets Rs 2150 crore

The CM and former Minister Thomas Isaac visited London for the Masala Bond launch event of the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB). Though it drew much flak and led to controversies, KIIFB could raise Rs 2150 crore funds.

NORKA vice chairman P Sreeramakrishnan had recently stated that the visits made by Finance Minister and his team in the Gulf countries for introducing Pravasi Chitty did not find the intended results. Once his statement became controversial, he renounced it.

A K Saseendran visited London to study the Road safety system based on modern technology, while he was the Transport Minister. The London model remains in discussion in Kerala, where the roads are not commutable due to potholes.

The comments posted here/below/in the given space are not on behalf of Onmanorama. The person posting the comment will be in sole ownership of its responsibility. According to the central government's IT rules, obscene or offensive statement made against a person, religion, community or nation is a punishable offense, and legal action would be taken against people who indulge in such activities.