K-FON project rife with corruption, alleges Congress-led UDF opposition

A day after Kerala CM accused Cong-led UDF of looking for ways to oppose development in the state, the opposition hit back by alleging that the Left government's K-FON project was rife with corruption

A day after Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan accused the Congress-led UDF of only looking for ways to oppose development in the state, the opposition on Tuesday hit back by alleging that the Left government's K-FON project was rife with corruption.

Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the state assembly V D Satheesan alleged that there was corruption in the escalation of the project cost by 50 per cent from Rs 1,028 crore to Rs 1,548 crore and also in the award of the sub-contracts.

Satheesan claimed that the project cost was escalated by 50 per cent based on a letter by M Sivasanker, former principal secretary of Vijayan, who is an accused in two criminal cases -- the Life Mission scam and the gold smuggling through diplomatic bags.

He further alleged that while the project tender was won by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), the work contract was finally given to a company connected to the CM.

"All this indicates corruption," the LoP contended.

He also termed as a 'lie' the LDF government's claim that 20 lakh families would be provided free internet and contended that the state government has a license to provide only 60,000 connections.

He further said that when the CM, a day ago, said that K-FON was launched with the intention of freeing people from exploitation by private companies, he had already made arrangements to allow the private telecom operators to carry out 50 per cent of the cable installation.

The Congress leader also reiterated his allegations made a day ago that the K-FON launch event was an "extravagance" and that the optical fibres for the project were not made in India, but were instead procured from China and then rebranded.

On Monday, after launching the Kerala Fibre Optic Network (K-FON), Vijayan had said that the UDF opposition was against any kind of development in the state.

Refuting the contentions of the CM, Satheesan said that the opposition was not against the K-FON project or other initiatives for the benefit of the people, but it was opposing the corruption allegedly going on under the cover of these projects.