Kerala Cong writes to Guv for probe into Assembly rennovation

Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 11 : Continuing his outburst against Kerala Assembly Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala on Friday wrote to the Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan to order an urgent investigation into the gross irregularities in awarding the renovation works carried out in the state Assembly.
For the past few days, Chennithala has been going hammer and tong against Sreeramakrishnan, who has come under scanner with both the Congress and BJP leaders alleging that he had travelled abroad with the prime accused in the Kerala gold smuggling case, a charge which was denied by him at a press conference on Thursday.
In his letter to Khan, Chennithala stated that the entire Assembly complex was built at a cost of Rs 76 crore (in the mid 1990s) and in his tenure as Speaker since 2016, Sreeramakrishnan has spent huge amounts on renovation and other related projects.
“To spend Rs 16.65 crore for the renovation of a single hall of a mutli-storied complex whose total cost is Rs 76 crore raises many questions on the transparency of these renovation works,” Chennithala said.
He further stated that works amounting to a whopping Rs 100 crore have been awarded to different companies with the lion’s share going to the Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society and a mobilisation advance of Rs 13.59 crore was disbursed to the Society for the e-Niyamasabha project.
“It is reliably learnt that the project has been outsourced to another company by the Society in violation of the government order, which requisites all outsourcing by e-tendering,” Chennithala said.