The Hindu : Salary hike for Malabar temple staff from April 1

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 07, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Salary hike for Malabar temple staff from April 1

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHPAURAM, FEB. 6. The salaries of temple employees in the erstwhile Malabar region would be revised with effect from April 1, the Devaswom Minister, G. Karthikeyan, informed the Assembly today.

Replying to a submission by T.V. Chandramohanan (Congress), the Minister said around 20,000 employees in the temples, currently under the control of the Devaswom Board, would benefit from the decision.

Fish workers' welfare fund: The Fisheries Minister, K.V. Thomas, told T.K. Devakumar (CPI-M) that his department had prepared a bill to ensure prompt collection of contributions from seafood exporters to the fish workers' welfare fund. The bill, prepared to overcome the crisis arising from a Court verdict in favour of the exporters, was being vetted by the Law Department and would be introduced in the Assembly at the earliest, he said.

Power: The Electricity Minister, Kadavur Sivadasan, told K. Radhakrishnan (CPI-M) that the KSEB had not disconnected the power connections of any of the Kerala Water Authority's drinking water supply projects though the KWA owed the KSEB Rs. 174.49 crores. However, some connections of the Irrigation Department had been snapped as the department owed the KSEB Rs. 16.50 crores. The department had subsequently undertaken to pay Rs. 9 crores immediately. When the amount was received, the snapped connections would be restored, he said.

Relief assistance: The Revenue Minister, K.M. Mani, told Thomas Chazhikkadan and Stephen George, both of the KC(M), that the Government would make the drought relief assistance available to drought-hit districts very soon. The Government had already made Rs. 75 lakhs out of the Rs. 2 crores allocated for Kottayam district available to the district authorities, he said.

Cashew factories: The Industries Minister, P.K. Kunhalikkutty, told Kovoor Kunhumon (RSP) that the Government had issued orders for the reopening of the 34 factories owned by the Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation (KSCDC) that had remained closed for months now.

River waters: The Water Resources Minister, T.M. Jacob, told K.P. Satheesh Chandran (CPI-M) that the Government had asked the Karnataka Government to inform it whether the waters of the Chandragiri river were being diverted to the Netravathi river. The State, he said, would be able to do little if the waters of Netravathi were being diverted into Karnakataka as it was not an inter-State river.

However, if there was diversion of waters from Chandragiri river, which was a river that originated in Kerala, the matter would be considered seriously, the Minister said.

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