The Hindu : Kerala News : Government to set up NRI cell

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 09, 2005

Kerala

Kerala

Government to set up NRI cell

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, FEB. 8. The State Government would set up a NRI Cell to deal with the issues of Keralites seeking jobs abroad, especially in West Asia.

The cell would be set up in the Police Department and would function under a senior officer. Its responsibilities would include protection of interests of Keralites proceeding to foreign countries in search of jobs, said the Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy, in the Assembly today.

NoRKA Bhavan

Replying to questions, he said NoRKA Bhavan would soon be opened in Thiruvananthapuram to coordinate the activities for the welfare of non-resident Keralites.

The Government was aware of the fact that some recruiting agents were cheating job-seekers by offering them high salaries and other perquisites. However, the State Government alone was not in a position to tackle the issue. The Centre has already been approached with a proposal to modify the existing emigration laws, the Chief Minister said.

A set of proposals, including the posting of Labour Welfare Officers in the Indian embassies and obtaining prior permission to publish advertisements for appointments abroad, had already been submitted to the Centre, he added.

Road accidents

In reply to another question, the Chief Minister said that 11, 677 lives have been lost in road accidents in the State over the last four years.

Among them were 9,560 men, 1,586 women and 531 children. In the wake of the rise in the number of road accidents, stringent measures have been initiated by the departments concerned to ensure road safety.

Checking of vehicles and booking for speeding, overload, negligent driving and driving without licence, have been intensified, Mr. Chandy said.

Land allotment

The Government was committed to allot lands to all landless tribesfolk in the State at the earliest, but not necessarily within a year, said A.P. Anilkumar, Minister for Welfare of Scheduled and Backward Communities.

As and when land was made available, the allotment would be done. However, much depended on the Centre, which was believed to have filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court to the effect that landless tribesfolk should be assigned adequate land, preferably in their own habitat.

It was the desire of the Government to allot one acre each to landless tribesfolk and one to five acres to those already settled in their own locality.

Only 19,151 tribesfolk were yet to be allotted at least an acre each of land, the Minister said.

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

Kerala