The Hindu : Business meet to promote traditional industries

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 04, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Business meet to promote traditional industries

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, FEB. 3. The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has only rescheduled some of its services and not cancelled a single schedule, the Transport Minister, R. Balakrishna Pillai, has said.

Replying to the questions of B. Vijayakumar, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, E.M. Augusthy, George Mathew and Varkala Kahar on the floor of the House today, Mr. Pillai said services on the nationalised routes had not been cancelled. The dearness allowance would be disbursed as and when the financial situation improves, he said.

Replying to Mr. Radhakrishnan's question regarding the strike planned by KSRTC employees from the third week of this month, Mr. Pillai said that another strike would prove to be disastrous for KSRTC. There was an increase of Rs.5.02 crores in the corporation's income during October, November and December 2003. But this was insufficient to meet the rising expenditure. Budgetary support for the corporation was imperative. No bank, however, was ready to finance the corporation, he said.

A welfare fund for employees and commuters was under the consideration of the Government. Giving urgent medical attention to commuters and staff was one of the aims of the fund. The corporation would have to charge 50 paise more on tickets costing up to Rs.15 and Re.1 on those above Rs.100 to set up the fund, he said.

The Industries Minister, P.K. Kunhalikutty, told K.P. Rajendran, Mathai Chacko, P.K.K. Bava, C.T. Ahammedali, U.C. Raman, K. Kutty Ahammedkutty and E.T. Mohammed Basheer, that the Government could not examine the antecedents of investors who evinced interest in the State. When pointed out that one of the investors who had come for the Global Investor Meet (GIM) in Kochi was arrested by the police the other day on charges of cheating, Mr. Kunhalikutty said that the law would take its course in the case of offenders and the Government could not scrutinise the details of the investors.

Mr. Kunhalikutty told the Leader of the Opposition, V.S. Achuthanandan, that the Government was ready to hold talks on the GIM in a peaceful atmosphere. The Government had not announced any intentions to sell the water in Malampuzha. The Business-to-Business meet planned in Kochi this month, would prove to be a platform for traditional industries, such as coir, handloom, handicraft, food processors, moulded plastic units and Ayurveda units to liaison with foreign trade bodies and entrepreneurs, to market the products of the traditional industries.

Port development

The Minister for Ports, M.V.Raghavan, said that Azheekkal, Beypore, Ponnani, Munambam, Alappuzha, Thangassery and Vizhinjam harbours would be developed. The report to develop Beypore was being prepared.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Kerala