Thiruvananthapuram, February 13 Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday said that strikes would continue in the state, amid concerns from the business community over the total shutdown experienced a day earlier during the all-India strike called by trade unions against the Centre’s alleged anti-labour policies.
The veteran CPI(M) leader was responding to a question from the audience about the paralysing nationwide strike in Kerala, raised by a businessman during an interaction at a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Southern Regional Council meeting here.
"What happened yesterday (Thursday) will continue. Because it was such a significant event. The government's labour codes adversely affect all workers. That is why an all-India strike was called, and in such a strike, Kerala will be at the forefront, that is the normal practice," Vijayan said with a smile.
During the interaction, Krishna, a businessman from Hyderabad, first listed the positives of doing business in Kerala and then recalled his personal experience of arriving in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday, when he felt the impact of the strike.
He asked the Chief Minister whether such disruptions could pose challenges to investment or affect investor sentiment towards Kerala.
The Chief Minister also said he would consider a suggestion from another businessman to make the state’s other three airports carbon-neutral, on the lines of Cochin International Airport Limited.
Vijayan said that CIAL was the country's first public–private partnership model in the airport sector and had been a major success.
"Now all the investors are getting their money back through dividends, and it continues. We can also try your suggestion," he said.
Earlier in his speech, the Chief Minister highlighted several projects and welfare schemes completed by his government over the past decade, including the eradication of extreme poverty and Kerala’s top ranking in the country's ease of doing business indicators.
