THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government wishes to cooperate with the Centre when it comes to matters involving the development of the state, chief minister
Pinarayi Vijayan said here on Tuesday.
Chairing a conference of MPs from the state, Vijayan said they should bring to the notice of the Centre the approaches that are causing hindrance in the development of the state.
The conference also passed a resolution against the Centre for not allowing a delegation led by the chief minister to meet prime minister
Narendra Modi. The delegation had planned to urge the prime minister to restore the state’s food grain quota that was slashed after the central government’s Food Safety Act came into force.
The resolution also demanded that the Centre and the railway ministry should cooperate in the setting up of a rail coach factory at Kanjikode.
Vijayan urged the MPs to take up the matter of railway development in the state with the Centre. He added that the government is acquiring the land for railway development on time and the land for Haripad-Ambalappuzha, Changanassery-Chingavanam and Kuruppumthara-Ettumanoor sections have already been handed over to the railways.
The chief minister said that certain central government policies are coming in the way of the development of the state and the Centre should hold discussions with the state and in Parliament before finalizing them. Also, the Centre inking international agreements without consulting the state can adversely affect the state, he added.
He said that there has been a major dip in the state’s revenue since the implementation of the GST regime. We have reached a stage where the state has to depend on the Centre for its financial needs, he said.
