Published 18:58 IST, November 2nd 2020
Life Mission scam: MoS MEA urges Vijayan to resign as CM's ex-aide is named as accused
Hours after M Sivasankar was named as an accused in the Life Mission scam, MoS MEA V Muraleedharan again demanded Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan's resignation.
Hours after suspended bureaucrat M Sivasankar was named as an accused in the Life Mission scam, MoS MEA V Muraleedharan reiterated his call for Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan's resignation. The Kerala government's Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) made this disclosure in a report submitted in the Special Vigilance Court, Thiruvananthapuram earlier in the day. Claiming that Life Mission had become a "commission mission" for Vijayan, the BJP leader made it clear that the buck stops with the CM.
Alleging that discontent is brewing among the people of the state, Muraleedharan claimed that the Kerala government had betrayed them on all accounts. Moreover, he contended that a series of scams had occurred under the Pinarayi Vijayan regime. It is pertinent to note that Life Mission is the Kerala government's flagship housing scheme for all the landless and homeless in the state.
What is the Life Mission project?
The target of the mission is to provide safe housing to nearly 4.30 lakh homeless people in Kerala within a span of 5 years. This entails modern housing complexes with the provision of livelihoods and social services such as primary health care, geriatric support, skill development and financial inclusion. The Kerala government decided to give priority to the coastal population, plantation workers, and those who stay in temporary shelters on government land.
VACB's allegations
The UAE-based Red Crescent signed a contract with Life Mission in 2019 to fund the construction of flats for needy families in Thrissur. As per the VACB, Sivasankar accepted a sizeable sum of money as a bribe from a builder. The agency alleged that Life Mission was persuaded by the former Principal Secretary to the Kerala CM to award the contract of constructing flats in Thrissur to the aforesaid builder, ignoring another competitor in the process.
The agency has also named gold smuggling case suspects Sarith PS, Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair as accused in the case. Revealing that both Sarith and Suresh held influential posts in the UAE Consulate at the time when the contract was awarded, it stated that Suresh referred the builder to Sivasankar. It has also been alleged that the amount recovered from the joint locker held by Suresh and Sivasankar's chartered accountant Venugopal was the brokerage received from the builder. At present, Sivasankar is in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate.
Updated 18:58 IST, November 2nd 2020