The Hindu Business Line : GIM projects get caught in political turmoil

`I do not want to disclose the names of those who have second thoughts on investing in the State, because I still entertain hopes that they can be brought around to reconsider their options.'

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, April 24

THE State Government is seeking to breathe fresh life into its laboriously mounted campaign for development, which, in the words of the Industries Minister, Mr P. K. Kunhalikkutty, is faced with a severe credibility crisis after having been caught in the vortex of unseemly developments in recent times.

Disclosing the Government's intention to bring the campaign back to where it should belong, the Minister told newspersons here that he would not like to chase down the culprits who have succeeded in their minimalist aim to temporarily derail the process.

The Minister was referring to the spate of `bandhs' and `hartals' forced on the State immediately after the successful conduct of the Global Investors' Meet (GIM) in January in Kochi.

GIM had sought to send out the right signals to aspiring investors to put their money where their mouth was. But they had not bargained for the chaos arising out of the conflicting perceptions among the political class. Their level of expectations has suffered a severe jolt. The Minister said he could reel out the names of prospective investors who have had to beat a hasty retreat on account of what had happened in the GIM aftermath. "I do not want to disclose their names, because I still entertain hopes that they can be brought around to reconsider their options," Mr Kunhalikkutty said.

"There may be faults on all sides. I would not say whatever the Government have all along been doing is correct. Nor would I seek to suggest that whatever the Opposition is doing is wrong either. A persistently negative attitude, attributable to whichever side, doesn't help the cause of the Government. I am speaking purely from the viewpoint of the need to creating the right kind of atmosphere for development. The commitment has to come from all sides," he said.

The Government is focussed on implementing the GIM projects. The Investment Promotion Board chaired by the Chief Secretary has been doing an effective job of ensuring that none of the GIM projects encountered bottlenecks of any sort.

Asked about his earlier assurance that every project that had been vetted by GIM would be discussed in detail with the Opposition before being cleared, the Minister said: "We had scheduled a meeting to discuss it on March 6 but it was deferred for no fault of ours."

The Government is willing to keep up the dialogue with the Opposition, he added.

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