Opposition raises objection to amendment Bill
: The State government would not levy tolls on roads and bridges constructed utilising funds from the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB), Minister for Finance T.M. Thomas Isaac told the Assembly on Monday.
He was replying to objections to the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Amendment Bill raised by members of the Opposition after the Bill was introduced in the House.
Earlier, the Opposition MLAs had accused the government of a move to levy tolls on all bridges and roads that would be constructed using funds from the KIIFB. In his address, former Public Works Minister M.K. Muneer pointed out that CPI(M) leader V.S. Achuthanandan had said in the Assembly that the people of Kerala would have to walk with a purseful of money to pay for tolls on the Expressway that the then UDF government had proposed. “Now they would have to walk with sackfuls of money to pay tolls for all the roads that would be constructed with funds from the KIIFB,” he said.
In reply to Dr. Muneer, Dr. Isaac said the government was merely trying to think out of the box and trying to get outside the restrictions on the budget and seeking to mobilise funds for infrastructural development. “Our only aim is to see how the FRBM Act (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act) can be circumvented,” he said. Refuting Opposition charges that the PWD would not have any money to spend once the projects were moved under the KIIFB, Dr. Isaac said the LDF government would give approval in one year to as many projects that the UDF government did in five years.
In his address, former Finance Minister K.M. Mani said the government was seeking to legislate on something that was beyond its power. The government should withdraw the current bill and bring in a new one that was in keeping with its powers.
The Advocate General can be called to the Assembly to explain the constitutional position, he said..
