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K.G. Kumar

Mr Sudheeran's voice cannot be ignored. If he feels that the mineral sand-mining issue is a fit case for a judicial inquiry, that is a sufficiently serious allegation for the UDF to take note of.

LAST week, a committee of the United Democratic Front (UDF) recommended that the State Government set up an expert committee to study the mineral sand-mining project proposed for the coastal areas of Alappuzha district.

This is one of the projects showcased at the greatly publicised Global Investors Meet (GIM), which may as well be called the Global Illusions Mela now. So maligned are many of the proposals mooted there that more will die than sprout to revive the State's industry.

Already the Industries Minister, Mr P.K. Kunhalikkutty, has publicly decried the tendency to oppose the GIM projects. He defends the sand mining project by saying that any deferral of a Cabinet-approved project would show the Government in poor light.

The proposed joint venture was earlier criticised at a meeting of the executive committee of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC).

However, the Congress MP, Mr V. M. Sudheeran, has rejected outright the UDF and KPCC recommendation of an expert committee to re-evaluate the Alappuzha mineral sand-mining project. He has also refused to backtrack from the ongoing agitation against the project unless the Cabinet withdrew its sanction of the project.

Mr Sudheeran has declared that he would not hesitate to resign his Alappuzha Parliamentary seat the day the Government issued orders sanctioning the project.

Mr Sudheeran says the Government should first defer the project proposal and hold discussions with the people in the area before taking a final decision.

He alleges that the earlier expert committee had been handpicked by the Industries Department, adding that he has little doubt that the second expert committee would be similarly skewed. According to Mr Sudheeran, the people in the area around Alappuzha did not have any faith in another scientific committee.

The earlier one, instead of conducting scientific studies, had carried out an awareness campaign in favour of the project, clearly indicating that the Industries Department was prejudiced.

Had this criticism come from anyone else, it could have been easily brushed aside as the typically obstructionist tactics of a meddlesome politician. However, Mr Sudheeran, a former Speaker of the Kerala Assembly, is no ordinary politician. No one in the UDF - barring the Chief Minister, Mr A.K. Antony, perhaps - enjoys a cleaner image and a more spotless reputation as a selfless, incorru- ptible leader who forever places up front the interests of the people who elected him to office. Thus, before many of today's heroes in the UDF began to spout developmental rhetoric, Mr Sudheeran was campaigning for the development of Alappuzha, among Kerala's more backward districts. It was he who was principally responsible for the coastal railway that now links Alappuzha to Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram.

Mr Sudheeran's voice thus cannot be ignored. If he feels that the mineral sand-mining issue is a fit case for a judicial inquiry, that is a sufficiently serious allegation for the UDF to take note of. Mr Sudheeran has also said that the previous Government had cleared the sand-mining project on 26 March 1996, a day before the Assembly election notification.

The Government Order giving sanction to the project was issued on 29 March, by which time the election process had begun. Mr Sudheeran alleges that this was a violation of the election norms.

The Industry Minister, Mr Kunhalikutty, says that the decision to implement the project was taken after holding detailed discussions with all parties concerned.

Mr Sudheeran denies this. He appears to be closer to the masses of Alappuzha and seems to know the pulse of the people better. In the rush to push through GIM projects, the UDF should be equally sensitive to the people's wishes.

The writer can be contacted at kg@tug.org.in

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