THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Former chief minister Oommen Chandy welcomed the decision of the new government to come out with a white paper on the state's finances as well as to examine various orders issued in the last lap of the former government. '' I wholeheartedly welcome it. People have a lot of misunderstanding on it.
They can understand the reality '',Chandy said. While promising Opposition support to the government for everything constructive, Chandy also challenged many points raised on behalf of the new government,particularly the charge that the treasury is hollow.'' It was just like what the UDF government had inherited from the predecessor government. As on May 24,the treasury balance stood at Rs 1,009 crores. The new government has also a permissible balance of Rs 1,500 cr to avail loans from the centre'',he said.
He also countered the new government's announcement that the ban on appointments will be lifted.''There was no ban.1.67 lakh persons were appointed in government service during UDF government's tenure,against 1.60 lakh under the preceding LDF govt.The UDF government had even made sure that anticipated vacancies in 2016 were reported by the end of 2015 itself and appointments were given accordingly'',he claimed. Chandy came out strongly against the NDA government's loud claims after two years in office .''After coming to power through a campaign against price rise and corruption,what the government is doing now is looting the people through exorbitant fuel prices. When the per barrel crude oil prices was 112 US $ during UPA government's rule,petrol and diesel was sold at Rs 74.33 and Rs 60.77 a litre respectively.
Now crude oil prices rules at 50 US $,after dipping to as low as 36 US $ .Petrol and diesel can be sold at Rs 45 and Rs 40 respectively,and Rs 1.7 lakh crores was fleeced from the people in the last two years by imposing hefty excise duties'',he pointed out. He was highly critical on the NDA government's refusal to revive the Overseas Indian Affairs ministry,planning commission mechanism and the five year plan without offering effective alternative systems,withdrawing interventions and support in the core sectors like anganwadis ,schools and health,apart from cutting allocation to states for poverty eradication schemes like MNREGS. Chandy also took strong exception on the centre facilitating the return of Italian marines involved in the killing of two fishermen in Kerala coast.