The Hindu : Front Page : Meet on electoral rolls today

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Thursday, Jun 30, 2005

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Meet on electoral rolls today

Special Correspondent

Government to go by consensus on rectifying anomalies, says Chandy

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Government is holding an all-party meeting here on Thursday to discuss the anomalies in the voters' list.

Briefing reporters after the weekly Cabinet meeting here on Wednesday, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said the Government would hold discussions with the Election Commission after eliciting the views of political parties about the anomalies in the voters' list. The Government wished to go by consensus on the issue and there was no question of the anomalies in the voters' list being used an excuse to postpone the local body elections. Mr. Chandy said the Cabinet had approved the Memorandum of Association and statutes of the Hill Area Development Agency and decided to include the land acquisition for the Palakappandi diversion scheme in the list of `fast track' schemes. If necessary, the Government would purchase private land needed for the project. In case forest land becomes necessary, it would give sufficient land at Kambakkallu in Idukki for compensatory afforestation.

The Cabinet had also decided to pay the fees of professional college students from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe and other eligible communities at rates fixed by the K. T. Thomas Committee. Earlier, the Government had stipulated that only fees fixed by it should be levied on these categories of students, but that decision had become null and void following the court directive that fees fixed by the Commission should be charged across the spectrum. The Cabinet decision would cover eight courses, including MBBS, B. Tech, BDS, BSc Agriculture, B. Pharm, BSc Nursing and BSMS (Siddha).

Mr. Chandy said the Government was actively considering the proposal for granting management quota in aided higher secondary schools managed by minorities and backward communities. He also brushed aside the allegation that he had indulged in doublespeak on KSEB unbundling. His stand at the National Development Council (NDC) meeting was that the KSEB should be converted into a public sector unit with subsidiaries and both the Union Energy Minister and the Energy Secretary had endorsed his position, the Chief Minister said.

He also did not think that there was a dispute between the Government and the Governor on release of prisoners as recommended by the Prison Review Committee.

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