Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 27 (IANS): The Kerala unit of the BJP has alleged that major graft has taken place in the state government's "prestigious" Kerala Fibre Optic Network (KFON) project.

Kerala BJP spokesperson, Sandeep Vachaspathi in a statement accused the ruling CPI (M) and Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society of making "huge money" through the Chief Minister's pet project.

He claimed that the state government had given the contract for cable lying to a private company at a rate of Rs 40,000 per km while generally it is charged at Rs 8000 to Rs 10,000 per km in the state.

Vachaspathi, while speaking to IANS, said, "This is nepotism and corruption at the highest level. It is against norms that the agency that won the contract sublet the work to another company."

The BJP leader said that the claims made by the Kerala government regarding KFON were "not true".

"If the work goes by this pace, it would take another three years to implement the project," he added.

Vachaspathi also alleged that a former IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre hailing from Kerala, who was a senior leader of Kamal Haasan's political party, is now heading the Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Limited (KSITIL) - the state government PSU that is piloting the KFON project. "After his advent several procedural violations had taken place," added the BJP leader.