Gyan on Gujarat model: Kerala lawmakers make beeline to Surat

The Congress and the Left miss no opportunity to run down Narendra Modi’s “Gujarat model of development” and his “fake” statistics but when they want to study civic affairs, they don’t mind looking at his work. In 10 days, a team of MLAs, ministers and civic administrators from Kerala will visit Surat on a field trip to learn about the performance of the Gujarat government.[caption id=“attachment_1264283” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. Image courtesy PIB[/caption] The delegation will include the senior-most minister of the Kerala cabinet, KM Mani, and CPM MLAs. Besides Mani, who handles the state’s finance portfolio, three more ministers—two of them from the Indian Union Muslim League—will travel to Surat. One of the aims of the team will be to study the solid waste management in Surat. For a couple of years, Kerala has been reeling under a garbage crisis wherein civic authorities are unable dispose waste because of public protest and lack of appropriate technology. None of the models the state has tried seemed to have worked. Chief Minister Oomen Chandy has often said that the state was looking for a “working model”. Perhaps, Gujarat has some solution to offer. Ironically, in April this year, the labour minister of the state Shibu Baby John was in the eye of a storm because he paid a courtesy visit to Narendra Modi, who briefed him about the skill development centres in the state. John had came under intense criticism for visiting Modi, both from the Congress and the CPM, and had to publicly express regret. Interestingly, it’s always the famed “Kerala model of development” that’s pitted against the “Gujarat model”.