Menon criticises govt in parliament

Expressing dissatisfaction over the government's failure to ensure good governance, Civil Aviation Minister Rashed Khan Menon yesterday told parliament that the country's economic growth would rise by 2.5 percent if corruption could be curbed effectively.

The president of the Workers Party, a key party of the governing alliance, also said violence, killings, forced disappearances, and tender manipulation had tarnished the government's image and was obscuring its achievements.

Speaking on the proposed 2015-16 budget, Menon also criticised the government for its failure to take effective steps against recent incidents of sexual violence against women.

"The country where women don't feel safe to move at night and sexual assaults continue can't be called civilised," he said.

Pointing to the continuous privatisation of the power sector, he said, "We'll have to think how it'll pay off for an independent country to privatise the power sector."

The steps taken by the government for rental and quick rental power plants enacting a special law in the past went against the national interest, he said. He also slammed the government for proportionately reducing the budgetary allocation for education.