Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has harshly criticised the BJP-led central government for ignoring Kerala without providing financial aid. Addressing the assembly on Tuesday, the Chief Minister alleged that the Centre was arbitrarily adding loans taken by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) to that of the state, resulting in reduction of the borrowing limits of the government.
He also informed the house that the state government will appeal to the centre to speed up the approval of projects related to the central government in Kerala.
The response from the CM in the House came while answering a query regarding projects being funded by KIIFB and their status.
He also gave details of the extensive funding of numerous projects in the state across various sectors like infrastructure, roads, fisheries, education and coastal area development among others.
“The state government has no liability over borrowings of KIIFB. But the centre has been treating KIIFB borrowings as state government loans. The government has the right to implement projects under KIIFB. To date, we have implemented projects worth Rs 13,389 crore through KIIFB. In this financial year, the government has approved projects worth Rs 904 crore,” said Chief Minister.
The Chief Minister further said that development projects that the state intends to carry out will be undertaken by the government despite "hurdles" created by the Centre.
Vijayan said while the huge borrowings by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) are not marked as part of the debt of the Centre, the same consideration is not given to loans taken by KIIFB.
(With PTI inputs)
