Kollam: With lapses in the implementation of many projects rolled out by the LDF Government after much fanfare becoming a regular affair, the CPM leadership has demanded progress reports on its functioning.
From now onwards, the Chief Minister’s office has to file progress reports on development activities carried out by the Government to State Centre every three months. The CPM, the main LDF constituent, has also come out with a special set of guidelines for the efficient functioning of the Government.
The official explanation being cited is that the direction is aimed at facilitating the reach of developmental activities among the masses through party components and giving apt replies to propaganda spread by several quarters. However, the CPM took the tough stance soon after M V Govindan became its State Secretary in the wake of charges that the party and the Government focus on the same individual, sources said.
During the tenure of the first Pinarayi Vijayan Government, the practice was to evaluate its functioning every year. The leadership of the ruling front constituents used to hold discussions on governance at regular intervals. However, this is for the first time that the CPM is asking the Government for a progress report. Earlier, the party state committee arrived at the assessment that the functioning of the current administration lags behind that of the first Pinarayi Government.
With projects from Life Mission to ambitious SilverLine getting mired in controversies, the party leadership readied a special document for the effective functioning of the Government. However, several lapses in the implementation of projects, including the ‘One year, one lakh Enterprises’ programme of the Industries department and the distribution of the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund, have emerged after this.
Guidelines for Government functioning
The following are the guidelines prepared by the CPM leadership for the effective functioning of the Government:-
· The Government is embroiled in a severe financial crisis and this has given rise to the public notion that it’s virtually non-functional. Serious thought should be given to how to remove this perception.
· With regard to the Life Mission Housing scheme, it should be planned in advance how many houses can be constructed each year and the Government should ensure the setting aside of sufficient funds for the same.
· A continuous intervention is required from the part of the Government to tide over the KSRTC crisis.
· The Government should take special care in extending benefits to the poor.
· The expectation was that the first ship would anchor at the Vizhinjam port in March 2023. The project should be completed at the earliest, after taking all the new issues into consideration.
· A ministerial-level subcommittee should interfere in the timely implementation of the Idukki, Wayanad, and Kuttanad packages.
· The K-FON project should be expedited.
