Thiruvananthapuram Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday held an online meeting with MPs from Kerala urging them to highlight various issues, particularly the financial crisis, affecting the State during the upcoming Parliament session.
In the meeting, a unanimous decision emerged to raise issues in the Parliament related to the removal of revenue subsidy due to the State, cancellation of GST compensation and non-payment of arrears of compensation.
According to a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), another important agenda discussed in the meeting was that the Centre should withdraw from its move to reduce the borrowing limits of the State.
“In this context, it was unanimously decided in the meeting to visit the Union Ministers concerned to raise the credit limit of Kerala as per the recommendation of the 15th Finance Commission,” the statement said.
The other issues which the MPs decided to jointly raise in Parliament were the delay in security clearance to the Sabarimala airport, Central government intervention to check airfares of foreign flights to Kerala and payment of salary arrears of teachers in accordance with the University Grants Commission’s 7th pay revision, the CMO statement said.
Besides that, it was also decided to urge the Union government to pay the arrears of Central allocation in various welfare schemes, like paddy procurement, and development projects being implemented in the State, the statement said.
Another decision taken in the meeting was to hold protests against alleged Central neglect by bringing together all States that are facing this problem, it said.
In the meeting, the introduction of a new condition by the Union government for distribution of grants approved by the financial commission for local bodies was termed as “unconstitutional”, the CMO statement said.
