Titanium Scam Haunts Oommen Chandy

N S Sajith

As his involvement in Palmolein Scam is still roam in the court room and in the media, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy landed in another Scam regarding Travancore Titanium Products Limited (TTPL) which made a huge loss of one thousand crore to the state’s exchequer. A letter which proves the excessive interest of Oommen Chandy in carrying out 250 crore waste treatment plant in leaked by the media rocked the state Assembly for two day consecutively. The letter also proved that Oommen Chandy has blatantly rejected the Prime Minister’s office’s suggestion for an inquiry in this scam.

The waste treatment plant was installed in the TTPL in Thiruvananthapuram in 2005 when Oommen Chandy headed the UDF government. As the Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy hastily made the deal with Maecon Corporation. Two letters written by Oommen Chandy to G Thyagarajan Chairman, of Supreme Court Monitoring Committe in April 2005 and January 2006 urged for extension of time to carry out necessary pollution control measures in TTPL and assured that there would not be any slippages in carrying out the project.  A case pertaining to this is already pending in the Thiruvananthapuram Vigilance Court. Prime Minister’s Office had written a letter to then Chief Secretary requesting enquiry on the deal after receiving a letter from Sebastian George from Kannur.

This is the second time the involvement of Oommen Chandy in this scam hit the headlines. In the midst of Assembly Election Campaign, K K Ramachandran, former Health Minister and AICC member in the previous Oommen Chandy government had revealed the details of the deal. The case was filed by the workers of the Company in the Vigilance court on the basis of these revelations.

The 256 crores anti pollution project deal were finalised, when the company had possessed the asset of just 59 crores. 256 crore project was increased to 414 crores. The tragic factor in this project is the instruments imported with the cost of 72 crores are still kept unused in the premises of the Company.

Today the opposition members demanded the resignation of Oommen Chandy in wake of new revelations. In an adjournment motion moved by Dr. T M Thomas Isaac said that Oommen Chandy may follow the footsteps of Ashok Chawan and B S Yediyurappa the former Chief Ministers of Maharashtra and Karnataka respectively.