KANNUR: Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala has said that the punching system should not be only for government officials but also ministers, and added that had it been implemented, none of the ministers would have received their salary in the past three months.

He was talking at the Kerala Pradesh School Teachers Association (KPSTA) state meeting here on Saturday.

“Most of the ministers are busy attending party meetings and they don’t come to the Secretariat. Even a cabinet meeting had to be called off because the quorum could not be filled. Some people claiming that there is no need to fill the quorum to hold a cabinet meeting is because of their ignorance. A cabinet meeting is not like the committee meeting of a cooperative society or an arts and sports club. At least eight of the cabinet ministers should be present to hold a cabinet meeting and that’s a rule,” he said, and added mockingly: “Having said that, I don’t think there’s any use even if the ministers come for the meeting.”

Chennithala also said that Education Minister C Raveendranath, who only executes those things suggested by the educational institutions that have a CPM leniency, has made the education department a captain-less-ship. He added that the education department is the biggest example of the administrative failures of the government.

He clarified that the failure of the education department is not because of the non-cooperation of the opposition but because of the inefficiency of the government.

Chennithala also took a jibe at Finance Minister Dr. Thomas Isaac by comparing him to Alphonso, a character in M Mukundan’s ‘Daivathinte Vikrithikal’.

He questioned how the government could announce projects to the tune of Rs. 50,000 crore when they have only Rs. 4,200 crore in the treasury.