The district committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has alleged that the Congress-ruled Kochi Corporation is trying to obstruct the implementation of the city gas project.
In a release issued here, P. Rajeev, secretary of the CPI(M) Ernakulam district committee, alleged that the corporation leadership was insisting that Indian Oil Corporation, which is implementing the project along with Adani group, should pay road cutting charges similar to the rates prescribed for companies like Airtel, Reliance, Vodafone, etc.
Mr. Rajeev said that a uniform rate was levied for pipe laying along the national highway during the previous Congress regime at the Centre and under the present BJP-led government. All the local bodies in the State provide sanction for road cutting by approving the rates fixed by the Public Works Department, he said.