Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday attacked Congress-led service organisations for disparaging the government’s decision to defer the remittance of 30 days’ salary over five months to steady the State’s tottering finances.
In his weekly television programme, Nam Munnottu, Mr. Vijayan said the teachers who had burnt the government order had become objects of public ridicule. The students of their schools had set an example for them by contributing their mite to the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF).
The teachers who torched the order were beyond redemption. “Their perverse mindset will never change,” he said.
Revenue sources dry up
Mr. Vijayan said the COVID-19 lockdown had choked the government’s conventional revenue streams. Kerala had protected its employees from arbitrary wage and dearness allowance cuts resorted to by the Central government. The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party had done the same in States ruled by them.
Mr. Vijayan defended his action to hire highly paid lawyers to argue for the government and said his special advisers bore minimal cost to the public exchequer.
He also justified the government’s decision to hire a helicopter for a “high monthly rental” by stating that the State would deploy it during natural disasters. (The Indian Air Force (IAF) had slapped a ₹113-crore ‘air bill’ on the government for relief and rescue operations during the 2019 floods.)
KPCC chief charge
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Mullappally Ramachandran said the Chief Minister’s inherent sense of insecurity had caused him to splurge on helicopters, bulletproof vehicles and expensive escort cars.
Mr. Vijayan had ensconced himself inside a ring of pliant special advisers who drew huge emoluments and perks from the treasury. He said the Chief Minister’s image-building programme, Nam Munnottu, cost the exchequer ₹6.37 crore annually. Mr. Vijayan had contracted the Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s official news channel to sing paean to him. Moreover, he used the pulpit to disparage the Opposition without giving them the democratic right of reply.