THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Cabinet on Wednesday decided to grant Rs.300 a month as interim relief to Government employees and teachers from this month. Pensioners will get Rs.175 a month and family pensioners Rs.100 a month.

The interim relief for part-time contingent workers would be Rs.120 a month. Pensioners belonging to this category will get Rs.30 a month as relief. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told presspersons after the Cabinet meeting that the Cabinet had accepted in toto the first of the three options recommended by the Pay Revision Commission for granting interim relief, pending pay revision. No retrospective effect had been recommended. The first payment would be made with the salary for August payable in September. The Chief Minister said the total outgo from the exchequer would be Rs.255 crores a year. This would be met from buoyancy in revenues from excise and sales tax on petroleum products.

Finance Minister Vakkom Purushothaman said that about 4.91 lakh Government employees and 3.28 lakh pensioners would benefit from the decision. The employees of the aided institutions and local self-governments were also eligible for the benefit. The benefit to the lowest paid employees would be 11.5 per cent of his or her current salary. The Minister recalled that the interim relief sanctioned in 1983 and 1995 (before pay revision) was only Rs.50 and Rs.100 respectively.

Mr. Chandy announced that Kerala would host a global educational meet with the objective of making Kerala an educational destination. The plan was to tap the immense potential of the State in technical and higher education. He said a committee with Education Minister E. T. Mohammed Basheer as chairman had been constituted to organise the international meet. Dr. Mohan Gopal would be the vice-chairman of the committee. Vice-Chancellors of universities in Kerala, the former Vice-Chancellor A. Sukumaran Nair and three educational experts would be members. The assistance of the Knowledge Commission, headed by Sam Pitroda, would be sought for organising the event. The Cabinet, he said, decided to allocate 2.01 hectares at Mavelikkara for building a heritage home by the Department for Non-Resident Keralites Affairs. Welcoming the announcement, State employees and teachers organisations said they were happy that it came before the notification of elections to local self-governments.

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