Marxists under fire over theme park

Thiruvananthapuram: The ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) has come under scrutiny yet again with the opening of a water theme park at Parassinikkadavu through a cooperative that is controlled by the party.

To add to the criticism of the party getting into the amusement park business, there was last-minute drama in the opening of the park itself on Sunday, when Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, who was scheduled to inaugurate it, failed to turn up after being admitted to a hospital for ill-health. The absence of the chief minister, who is widely considered to be against the idea of the party running an amusement park, is considered by political circles here to have been a tactical move by the veteran leader. In his absence, the party state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan opened the park.

The amusement park, estimated to have been put up at an outlay of Rs300 million (Dh25.12 million), is named Vismaya Infotainment Centre and has been developed by the Malabar Tourism Development Co-operatives.

The cooperative officials have said that the money for the project was mobilised from diverse sources including bank loans and contributions from individuals including expatriate Malayalis.

Environmental concerns

Countering rumours that the park would use up a lot of groundwater, the promoters have said that a rainwater reservoir had been set up within the park with a storage capacity of 50 million litres of water, which would be sufficient for the park's running.

While the party insists that it is a venture backed by a cross section of ordinary people, the idea of a political party floating an amusement park has been criticised. Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala said the CPM in the state had now become a monopolist lord in the lines of those it had been criticising so far.

For the CPM, however, the park is anything but a new initiative considering that it already has interests in buildings, hospitals and in a television company.

CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said those who had criticised the party for exploiting groundwater resources for the park should have the courtesy to change their views.