Chennithala seeks judicial investigation in deep-sea fishing MoU

By Express News Service
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala has sought a judicial probe into the deep-sea fishing MoU hatched between US agency EMCC International India Pvt Ltd and the Kerala Shipping and Inland Navigation Corporation. Expressing dissatisfaction with the state authorities’s choice to entrust Additional Chief Secretary (Home) T Ok Jose with holding a probe, Chennithala demanded that the federal government ought to cancel the Rs 5,000 crore settlement to allot 4 acres at Pallippuram in Alappuzha earlier than saying a judicial probe. The UDF has additionally determined to rally behind the fisher folks’s protest on Saturday.

For the fifth consecutive day, Chennithala raised the controversy over the deep sea fishing settlement, terming Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan because the protagonist and Industries Minister E P Jayarajan as his assistant. He maintained that no matter Pinarayi, Jayarajan and Fisheries Minister J Mercykutty Amma have been claiming to date over the settlement have been false. 

“The MoU signed at ASCEND, held in Kochi on February 28, 2020 is still in force. The state government cancelled only a part of the MoU on Monday,” Chennithala claimed.He reiterated that the fisheries minister had held talks with EMCC in New York throughout April 2018. 

“It was as per the advice of the chief minister that the US firm submitted a detailed concept note which the company owner himself has confirmed. The LDF government had resorted to loot fishermen through deliberate steps and there is no action against the amendment of the fisheries policy,” mentioned the Opposition chief.He additionally raised suspicion of the involvement of assorted on-line meals distribution corporations within the deep sea fishing settlement.