Industries Minister P.K. Kunhalikutty says new govt. has taken ₹300-crore Tata project further

Industries Minister P.K. Kunhalikutty on Saturday said that he and Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan had held official discussions with representatives of Tata to take forward a ₹300-crore project for which the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tata Projects. Addressing the media, Mr. Kunhalikutty said the Tata representatives met the government to discuss the project’s implementation. “This government has taken the project further than the previous government. I will study the project in detail,” he said.

Mr. Kunhalikutty said an official meeting with a Tata representative had taken place after Mr. Satheesan assumed office as Chief Minister and he became the Industries Minister. He said there would naturally be continuity in development projects despite a change in government. He also pointed out that land belonging to the Cochin Port Authority had already been acquired for the project. However, he maintained that the proposal being pursued by the present government was not the same as the one initiated by the previous government.

The Minister also clarified that he had never referred to the ₹10,000-crore investment figure mentioned earlier by the Chief Minister. His remarks came after Tata reportedly stated that it was unaware of any such investment proposal. Subsequently, the Chief Minister’s Office explained that the ₹10,000 crore referred to the total investment the government aimed to attract to Kerala and was not linked to any agreement with a single company. Mr. Kunhalikutty also said Tata’s version of the matter was “not entirely correct.”