Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Assistance to families of victims of chikungunya

Special Correspondent

40 persons died of the disease: Achuthanandan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Cabinet on Thursday decided to grant Rs.25,000 each to the families of those who had died of chikungunya in the State.

Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan told mediapersons after the Cabinet meeting that about 40 persons had died of the disease. Free rations would be provided for two weeks to the affected people in Cherthala and Ambalappuzha taluks and Chittattukara and Vadakkekara panchayats.

He said that the week beginning October 2 would be devoted for improving the sanitation in the State.

Ministers misled

He said the Ministers had stated in the Assembly that there were no deaths from chikungunya because the officials had misled them. The District Medical Officer had tried to mislead him also when he had visited Alappuzha. However, he could see that people with minor afflictions had been succumbing, when they had caught chikungunya, while no such situation existed in other areas.

He said the officials had also misled Revenue Minister K. P. Rajendran and Agriculture Minister Mullakkara Ratnakaran. That was how Mr. Rajendran had said in a written reply to the House that the Tata Tea Company had only 122 acres of excess land with it while the finding of the two legislature committees was that it held 50,000 acres in excess of the land leased to it. Similarly, Mr. Ratnakaran had informed the House that there were no deaths from Endosulfan in Kasaragod district on the basis of the reply furnished by the Health Department.

He said that by stating these facts in the House, he was not correcting the Ministers but the officials. He said the action would be taken against new recruits who failed to report for duty on their posting to the local self-governments. The Chief Secretary had been asked to collect information about such cases and submit a report. Those who had failed to join duty in panchayat and other offices should take this as a warning.

He said Director of Social Welfare Sumana Menon would be posted as Collector of Palakkad and the incumbent K. Ajayakumar as Director of Social Welfare.

K.R. Viswambharan would be posted as Alappuzha Collector and Rajan Kobragade as Special Secretary (Food). P. C. Alexander would be posted as Director of Scheduled Tribes. Principal Secretary (General Administration) Thomas C. George would be given additional charge of Printing and Stationary.

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

Stories in this Section

Karimatom tank to be cleaned up
Chandy defends Antony Government
Grenade: former policeman held
Assistance to families of victims of chikungunya
Binu murder case: four arrested
DGP to don the greasepaint
Plan Campaign to focus on farm development
`Government cannot reject applications for bar licences'
Cargo automation inaugurated
`Allow children to select career of their choice'
Law to facilitate land acquisition soon: Minister
Water supply to be disrupted today
Tension at Attingal
In Thiruvananthapuram Today

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu