Left turn isn146;t free

A modern four-lane highway connecting some of the most picturesque stretches of coastline in the world will, you would think, be in the interests of the local government. Not, it would seem, in Kerala. V.S. Achuthanandan8217;s Left Front government is holding up a 700 km National Highways Development Project on account of objections to the imposition of a toll. The recommendation of the toll is part of a technically worked out model, that has been agreed to, among others, by another Left Front regime, in West Bengal. Suggestions have reportedly come in that the project funds thereby being helped up by Kerala should be re-allotted to states like Maharashtra, Gujarat and Punjab that want further expansion of expressways under this model. This should be done forthwith.

The Kerala chief minister8217;s intransigence on development projects once again highlights the widening gaps within the communist fold. The run-up to its 19th party congress next year should focus debate within the CPM on this. In sharp contrast to Achuthanandan, his West Bengal counterpart, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, has over the past year advocated the need for a sharp and quick adoption of industrialisation by emphasising that this shift is in the interest of farmers and sharecroppers. He has also been insistent that in India8217;s current economic geography, state officials have to think on their feet, because competition for capital is so stiff. This, by the example of the current standoff on the expressway, could be true of government funds as it is of private investment.

Chief Minister Achuthanandan does not see this. He is so embroiled in the internal 8212; and personal 8212; politics in the Kerala CPM that last month he earned censure from his party on disciplinary grounds. The point is that the Left needs to reorient its internal dialogue back to issues of policy, not personality. Kerala, with its spectacular social indicators, cannot meet the aspirations of its

people only through out-migration and the hospitality sector. To reap economic opportunities, it needs investment in infrastructure. But, try explaining to its chief minister that such investment comes with local participation, not by right.