Governance missing in Kerala, mismanagement has become hallmark of govt, alleges Opposition Leader

V.D. Satheesan says Kerala government has been forced to roll back steep rise in building permit fees in the face of a resounding defeat in 2024 Lok Sabha elections

Kerala’s Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan (file) | Photo Credit: H. VIBHU

Governance is totally missing in Kerala and mismanagement has become the hallmark of the State government, Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan has said.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of Ernakulam District Congress Committee camp at Aluva near here on July 25, Mr. Satheesan said the Kerala government has been forced to roll back the steep rise in building permit fees in the face of a resounding defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

“But as a Plan B, the government is proposing to increase the service charges, which, in the current times of price rise, would result in another blowback from the people. The government has formed a committee of bureaucrats towards this end for cutting down the Plan size, overriding the mandate of the Legislative Assembly,” he said.

During the last fiscal, local bodies were granted only one-third of the allocation. Now, even the carryover from the previous fiscal is being denied and local bodies are being asked to find it from this fiscal’s allocation, which would ultimately disrupt the Plan fund implementation this year as well, Mr. Satheesan pointed out.

He came down heavily on the perceived attempt to create an “anti-Karnataka sentiment” with regard to the mission to find lorry driver Arjun who went missing in the landslip that hit Shirur in Uttara Kannada. “It should not be forgotten that many people who had gone missing during landslips in Kerala in the past, including at Kavalappara in Malappuram, remains to be found to this day,” he said.

“What wrong did the government (Karnataka) there do? The local MLA had not moved from Shirur ever since the incident. People who have no idea about the impact of landslips and its aftermath are passing comments not realising the difficulty of undertaking such a rescue mission, which is being carried out by people risking their lives,” said Mr. Satheesan.

“It is a process. Let’s not create negativity and demotivate the people engaged in the rescue mission,” he added.

Mr. Satheesan said a more detailed response will be forthcoming once the mission is complete.