New Delhi | Kerala Chief Minister VD Satheesan on Tuesday discussed Centre-state issues during his meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and sought exemption for national highway project spending from the state's overall borrowing limit.
Satheesan, who took over as Chief Minister on May 18, said Kerala is facing a financial crisis and that his government would be releasing a white paper about the state's finances.
At a media briefing in the national capital, he said any issues, such as the absence of a utility certificate or audited accounts that are hindering central funding for projects, would be examined.
For the national highway projects, Kerala has spent Rs 5,580 crore, and the state has been demanding that the amount be exempted from the state's borrowing limit, which is 3.5 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP).
Out of the limit, 0.5 per cent is conditional, subject to utilisation for the power sector.
Satheesan said he has requested the Centre to provide the exemption as the state is now only able to borrow a smaller amount.
During the meetings with the prime minister and the finance minister, the chief minister said certain Centre-state issues were discussed and expressed hope that there would be a positive response.
Regarding the Silverline semi-high speed rail project, the chief minister said the project was scrapped by the Centre and the previous state government.
The current government has only cancelled the notification whereby land was taken over for the project, and the move would provide relief to people who have not been able to sell or buy the land, he said.
New Delhi/ Thiruvananthapuram | Kerala Chief Minister V D Satheesan on Tuesday assured protection and full ownership rights for Munambam residents, while alleging that the previous Left government’s politically-appointed Waqf Board had complicated the land dispute.
The issue could have otherwise been settled within 10 minutes, he said while addressing a press conference here.
Satheesan said the government was examining legal steps to address the Waqf Board's registration of the disputed land in 'UMEED' portal.
He alleged that the disputed land was registered on the Centre’s UMEED portal against legal provisions and claimed the registration should have been carried out by the “mutawalli”, the caretaker or administrator of a waqf.
Satheesan alleged that while ministers in the previous Left government had assured Munambam residents they would not be evicted, the Waqf Board appointed during the same regime adopted the stand that the land was waqf property.
“So, they have cheated the people in Munambam,” he alleged.
The CM also claimed that the Congress-led UDF had effectively intervened when the BJP attempted to use the issue to create divisions between two religious communities in the past.
He said IUML state president Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal and senior leader P K Kunhalikutty had met the Varapuzha Archbishop and assured that nobody would be evicted from the area.
“However, the Left government adopted a position that aided the Sangh Parivar agenda,” Satheesan alleged.
He said the issue could have been resolved “within ten minutes”, but the Waqf Board complicated it.
“But that is okay. We still have the mechanism to handle it. There are legal aspects involved and there will be precise intervention. There will be no circumstance in which the poor people there will be thrown out,” he said.
His remarks came amid a political row in Kerala after the Kerala State Waqf Board registered the disputed land in Munambam, where most residents belong to the Christian community, on the UMEED portal.
Meanwhile, Kerala State Waqf Board Chairman K S Hamza clarified that the registration on the portal was only part of a technical and legal procedure and would not determine the final ownership of the property.
Hamza said the registration was a mandatory legal process that had to be completed before May 17 and maintained that any final decision regarding ownership would be subject to government and court rulings.
The Munambam issue pertains to a long-running dispute over around 404 acres of land in Ernakulam district over ownership and classification of the property, which was reportedly managed by Farook College and later claimed by the Waqf Board as waqf land.