Won’t use govt money for Wall of Women: CM
thiruvananthapuram — A day after the LDF government rejected the allegations of fund diversion for the proposed ‘Vanitha Mathil’ (Wall of Women) in the Kerala High Court, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday said no money would be spent from the state exchequer for the programme.
He also dismissed propaganda that the government was spending Rs500 million from state funds, earmarked for women’s welfare programmes, for the initiative scheduled to be held on January 1.
The Wall of Women is against any attempt to push society back to the dark ages from its progressive values, the chief minister said.
“Leaving no room for doubt, it is made clear that the government will not spend any money from the state exchequer for it.
But, we will give all support for the programme. The government stand is that we will not backtrack from the progressive path. It does not mean that the government will meet the expenses of the initiative,” he said at an employees’ programme here.
State Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac said the Wall of Women is an “official programme” of the government but not a single penny would be spent from the state exchequer.
However, Opposition Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala on Friday lashed out at the government, saying it was “cheating” the people of the state in the name of Wall of Women and trying to spend government funds.
“Even though the government is claiming that it won’t use money from the state exchequer, it had submitted an affidavit in the High Court, saying it would use Rs500 million from the government fund.