Opposition Congress-led UDF on Tuesday slammed the Left authorities in Kerala over its determination to renovate Cliff House, the official residence of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan spending almost one crore rupees at a time when the state was reeling beneath acute monetary crunch. Raising the difficulty within the Assembly, P T Thomas (Congress) sought to know the way the federal government’s declared coverage of economic austerity and spending whopping quantity for the ‘refurbishing’ of the CM’s bungalow would go collectively.
“The finance minister has ensured the House that he would implement monetary self-discipline. So, he ought to clarify how the austerity measures and the spending of crores of rupees for the refurbishing of the buildings would go one another,” the Thrikkakkara MLA said.
Finance Minister K N Balagopal, however, rejected the criticism of the opposition saying the government was taking all possible steps to reduce expenditure. “At the same time, it is also important to conserve the heritage buildings under the ownership of the government by making necessary repair and renovation,” he stated in the course of the query hour.
There are buildings that are 100 to 120 years-old within the state and needed upkeep work ought to be carried out to protect them and the Cliff House was one amongst such outdated buildings, he added. Balagopal additionally cautioned the opposition that avoiding extravagant spending doesn’t imply refraining from minimal issues to be performed by the federal government.
There had been media stories that the second LDF authorities had granted permission to renovate Vijayan’s official residence right here spending over 90 lakh rupees and the contract was awarded to Uralungal, a labour society based mostly in north Kerala, with out allegedly inviting any formal tender. A royal period constructing constructed 79 years in the past, Cliff House, positioned at Nanthancode within the coronary heart of the town, had been the official residence of majority of Chief Ministers, after the state of Kerala was shaped in 1957.
Earlier, it was the residence of ‘diwan peshkar’ (secretary of the state) throughout erstwhile royal rule.
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