THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Supreme Court’s decision on Monday in the case filed by Zoom Developers on the Vizhinjam port issue was a vindication of the stand taken by the Left Democratic Front (LDF), Pannian Ravindran, MP, said here on Monday.

Addressing a press conference, he said the LDF government had always adopted an open approach, a large-hearted approach as far as the Vizhinjam mother port was concerned. The State government and the Left parties were not particular that the tender for the port be settled in favour of any company. The important thing was for the port to become a reality. It was after Varkala Radhakrishnan, MP, and he staged a dharna in front of Parliament that the then United Democratic Front (UDF) government in the State was forced take the Vizhinjam project out of cold storage, he said.

Mr. Ravindran said many people and companies with vested interests were trying to derail the Vizhinjam project. The case filed by Zoom developers was part of such moves.

Mr. Ravindran alleged that the UDF was carrying out a smear campaign against him by alleging that he had not fully utilised the MP fund allocated to him. Of the Rs. 6 crore that was allocated to him, Rs. 2.6 crore was used for health-related schemes, Rs. 2 crore for projects related to schools and the rest for drinking water and road schemes.

“I have fully utilised the funds given to me. What the UDF is doing is using the figures of utilised funds to buttress their claims. There will be gap between the sanctioning of a project and the utilisation of funds. A correct picture relating to my MP funds can be had from the State government,” he said.

During the last 30 years, Thiruvananthapuram had only three Left MPs and their combined term in office was little more than six years. For the rest of the 23-odd years, the constituency was represented by Congress MPs. All these years, nothing much was done by way of development activity by these MPs, he said. Welcomed

The Chamber of Commerce of Thiruvananthapuram has asked the government to act now that the Supreme Court has removed all the hurdles in the way of the Vizhinjam project. E.M. Najeeb, president, and S.N. Reghuchandran Nair, secretary, in a joint statement urged the government to take concerted action by coming out with a time-bound action plan for the construction of the harbour.