Thiruvananthapuram: The government or one of his departments has not taken the initiative of Suo-Motu in conducting inspections in Kitex, because he was suspected by his management, Industrial Minister P Rajeeve said on Monday.
He said the inspection carried out by officials of various departments was carried out on the basis of the complaint submitted by MP Benny Behanan before the NHRC, a complaint by MLA PT Thomas that the company allegedly polluted the nearest river which affected the drinking water hundreds of families and on the instruction of the High Court based on the message Voice reported by company female employees.
The minister said the district labor officer had told the government that the company did not submit an objection during inspection.
Rajeeve said KITEX management has raised allegations based on the government.
He added that Kerala was one of the most industry-friendly states, and added to the list of countries in the sustainable development index that Niti Aayog had published.
Kerala present second among countries that have the best conducive environment to do business in the Indian innovation index, which is another index of Niti Aayog, he added.
He said the claim that the state had to imitate countries such as rising and claims Kitex MD Sabu Jacob, by raising a list of idle youth, having a hidden motive.
Rajeev said the Industrial Department did not receive complaints about searching and credit-free numbers – to reach the Minister of Industry or Minister of Chief – not used by KICEX management.
Conversely, Kitex MD raised allegations on social media, minister said.
Rajeeve added that when the government returned to the allegations, he tried to reach Jacob.
When he could not be contacted, his brother, Boby Jacob was contacted and given a guarantee that all problems would be seen.
The minister said when the news came out on June 29 that Kitex resigned from the investment promise given to the government, he tried to contact him.
He only gave an expression of interest to invest RS 3,500 crore and there was no agreement made.
After the Ascend event (the investment meeting held by the government on 9-10 January last year), department officials held discussions with Jacob on March 10.
He has raised demands which are part of the general demands on the increase and the government has made decisions on several key demands.
But Kitex was not interested in further discussion about this problem, he added.
Rajeeve said the government had decided a centralized inspection system where business ventures would be categorized as low, medium and highrisk businesses.
While low-risk initiatives will be checked online or once a year, a high-risk category will only be checked after serving notifications.
Instead of various departments that carry out different inspections, there will be a centralized inspection where the inspection report will be distributed with promoters within 48 hours and published on the portal, he said.