Kerala Govt, Congress trade blows over NH-66 project

Thiruvananthapuram/New Delhi: A political battle is brewing in Kerala over the National Highway-66 project, with the ruling CPI(M) and opposition Congress throwing heated charges amid allegations of corruption and delays.

On Thursday, Kerala Public Works Minister P A Mohammed Riyas said the project would be completed "no matter what," even if Congress general secretary K C Venugopal "acts as the nemesis" of the highway plan.

The Congress hit back at the minister by accusing him of turning the complainant into the accused and questioned whether he was trying to protect the culprits behind the huge corruption of thousands of crores in the award of contracts for the NH work carried out by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

Riyas, speaking to a TV channel in Delhi, claimed that even if Venugopal acts as the "nemesis" of the NH-66 project, it will be completed as the state government is taking all steps in that direction.

He also said that the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament was not a Supreme Court, "It is K C Venugopal, the MP from Alappuzha".

Riyas' remark comes in the wake of Venugopal, as chairman of the PAC, ordering a CAG audit of the contract and other documents connected to the project after a section of the NH-66 in Malappuram district collapsed last month during the rains.

Riyas alleged that the Congress-led UDF government of 2011-2016 was responsible for putting the project on the back burner, as they did not have the capacity to implement it.

"Now when it is proceeding successfully, if they want to become its nemesis to halt it, the Left government will not condone it," the minister said.

Responding to his contentions, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief Sunny Joseph said that Riyas was trying to turn the complainant into the accused.

He said that the minister first made tall claims, then cracks appeared on the NH-66 roads, and now Riyas has become agitated in the face of protests and criticism against the implementation of the project.

The KPCC chief contended that the minister is now deliberately trying to "forget and hide" the tall claims he had made earlier regarding the project.

Joseph claimed that there was a huge corruption of thousands of crores in the award of contracts for the project and questioned whether the PWD minister was trying to protect the culprits behind it.

He also said that there was no justification for the minister not visiting the site of the NH collapse at Kuriyad in Malappuram.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Riyas met Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday with regard to the NH-66 project and the recent collapse of a section of it and cracks appearing in various other parts of the highway in Kannur, Kasaragod and Thrissur districts.

Following the meeting, Riyas said that the central government has promised to complete the ongoing construction of the NH-66 project, spanning from Kasaragod in the north to Thiruvananthapuram in the south, by December this year.

The Congress, meanwhile, has sought a CBI probe into the lapses in the National Highway-66 construction in the state and the alleged corruption in the awarding of contracts.

With PTI inputs