After MP AM Ariff sought a vigilance inquiry into the reconstruction of the National Highway (NH) 66 stretch between Aroor and Cherthala in Alappuzha district, some CPI (M) leaders have hit out at him. AM Ariff is also a CPI(M) leader. Ariff had written a letter to Public Works Minister PA Mohamed Riyas seeking a vigilance probe into the road work, pointing out that the condition of the highway is deteriorating. The reconstruction was done during the previous LDF government when G Sudhakaran was a PWD Minister. Minister Riyas denied the necessity of a vigilance probe in this issue.
"When G Sudhakaran was minister there was an inquiry on this. This inquiry report will be checked. There was a proper intervention then itself. G Sudhakaran has done everything possible then," Riyas told the media on Sunday.
Earlier CPI (M) district secretary R Nazar had said that Ariff wrote the letter without discussing the issue in the party. He also pointed out that the issues raised by the MP were already rejected in an inquiry report during the previous government. A sum of Rs 36 crore was spent to reconstruct a 23km-stretch of the road, but it was damaged with potholes within one-and-a-half years, says the MP in his letter.
Fisheries Minister Saji Cherian had also objected to the demand for a vigilance probe by the MP. However, Ariff had later clarified that he did not mean that Sudhakaran made a mistake, but that the officials or contractors failed in the reconstruction.
The internal inquiry report was filed in 2020. It had stated that since the Union government cut short the fund, it resulted in low quality work. The work was carried out using German technology. G Sudhakaran had also reacted to the issue earlier saying that if there is some problem in road construction, officials should be asked.