Chief Minister and CPM Ministers to travel abroad

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and some CPM ministers are gearing up to travel abroad. Chief Minister and Public Education Minister V Sivankutty will leave on October 1 for a two-week European tour. Although it was hinted that Industries Minister P Rajeeve, Finance Minister KN Balagopal and Health Minister Veena George are expected to be with them, it is yet to be confirmed.

Public Works and Tourism Minister PA Mohamed Riyas will go to Paris on the 19th of this month to attend the French Travel Mart. Cooperation Minister VN Vasavan will leave for a Gulf tour at the end of this month. The minister is preparing for a four-day Gulf visit after accepting the invitation of the Malayali organizations in Bahrain.

The team led by the Chief Minister will visit countries like Finland, Britain and Norway. Minister Sivankutty is going with him to visit Finland. It is learnt that Chief Secretary Dr VP Joy, Principal Secretary Public Education APM Muhammad Hanish and other high officials of the Education Department will also accompany the minister. The aim of the trip is to study the model of the education system in Finland. The team will be in Finland for four days. From there, the Chief Minister and his team will go to Norway and Britain.

Although the government has decided on the foreign tour, it is yet to get the final approval of the Union Ministry of External Affairs. The state government will issue an order soon after it gets approval from the Ministry of External Affairs.

Meanwhile, many are criticising the ministers for preparing to travel abroad en masse while the state is facing a financial crisis. However, CPM state secretary MV Govindan responded that it is necessary for ministers to go on foreign tours at some point.