Palakkad: The State Government has given strict instructions to the district administrations not to cooperate with the ‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra’ being conducted by the Centre on the lines of the Nava Kerala Sadas organised to propagate the development achievements of the State Government.
Governor Arif Mohammad Khan has been instructed by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) to attend the state-level inauguration in Attappadi on Wednesday. Union Minister V Muraleedharan will also participate. However, the state ministers, officials, and people's representatives are skipping the event.
The Chief Secretary and the District Collector carry out the responsibility of nodal officers for Central Government schemes at the state and district levels, respectively. Though a preliminary meeting was held in some districts involving state-level officials, the government later directed them not to cooperate with it at all. It is learned that the instructions were received from the Chief Minister's office. Following this, the state-level responsibility has been given to the presidents of the bankers' committee. The State Public Relations Department has also informed us that it will not give any news about the project.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Rs 24,000 crore project for primitive tribals in Jharkhand on Wednesday, and it will be beamed via video conferencing at the function at Attappadi. Though the project will benefit the tribals of the state, Kerala has not clarified its stand on it. The central and state officials had held several rounds of meetings in connection with the project, but officials of the Scheduled Tribe Development Department in the state are not attending the Centre's function on Wednesday.
The Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra is planned to propagate the achievements of the Central Government in the last nine years ahead of the Lok Sabha elections due in a few months. The Congress and the Opposition had come out against the appointment of officers in the rank of joint secretary, director, and deputy secretary as 'Prabhari Officer' for the purpose.
