CPI lashes out at ‘consultancy raj’

Thiruvananthapuram: CPI has come out against the practice of the government relying heavily on consultancy agencies. Most consultancy services are ‘expendable and the Left parties should be more cautious about the devious nature of such agencies’, CPI assistant secretary K Prakash Babu said in an article published in the party mouth piece ‘Janayugam’ on Sunday.
Though the column doesn’t criticize the CPM or chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan per se, it is full of innuendos against both, and in one way or the other tries to absolve CPI from the charges the LDF government now encounters following the expose of gold smuggling through diplomatic channel.
“May be mafia dons have roped in top officials as they knew they couldn’t win over Left leaders to their side. But, the Left government can’t lower its guard against such forces. Those behind the gold smuggling have got their work done by placing their moles in key positions and projects of the government. They did it with the help of multi-national consulting agencies,” said the column that spoke at length about the role of Left politics and its commitment towards all living creatures.
“It’s said around 45 consultancy agencies operate in government projects in Kerala. Their service is expendable in most of these projects. We also have some quasi-governmental and cooperative institutions that pocket mammoth projects without participating in open tender. There are many such that survive on the commission it generates by sub-letting those huge works to other large or small players in the field,” Babu said.
According to him, there were attempts to belittle the gravity of the smuggling case by packaging the whole ‘anti-national’ activities as in a soap opera. Gold smuggling through diplomatic channels amounts to anti-national activity. Such heinous crimes should be dealt with the seriousness it demands.
“Many of our airports are smuggling hubs for long. It’s doubtful whether customs, intelligence or any other agencies have properly investigated the same. That’s why smuggling continues unabated through our airports,” the article said.
In an apparent dig at higher-education minister K T Jaleel, Babu said the government should probe into violation of the country’s rules and procedures with regard to keeping contact with international consulates. “Violation of these rules by some (people) should be probed into,” he said.