THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Government will appoint a judicial commission to collect details of the victims of police harassment during the Emergency if the ongoing inquiry fails to yield the desired result, Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan has said.

Replying to questions in the Assembly on Wednesday, Mr. Achuthanandan said that 856 persons were detained in four jails during the Emergency. After collecting the details, the Government would consider the proposal to conduct a survey about the victims. Though he was imprisoned during the period, Mr. Achuthanandan said that his name did not figure among the names of prisoners.

Freedom fighters

As many as 191 applications for freedom fighter's pension were pending with the Government. The norms for granting freedom fighters' pension would not be relaxed, he said.

Following complaints about the conduct of examinations by the Public Service Commission, the Government had sought an explanation from those who had prepared the question papers. The vigilance officer of the commission was also probing the complaints, he said.

Bio-diesel

The Government had not conducted any study for producing bio-diesel. The options for producing bio-diesel would be explored only after detailed studies. Three private companies had evinced interest and offered to market it between Rs.20 and Rs.25 a litre.

Mr. Achuthanandan said the Government had noticed certain instances of the Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS) drifting from its set goals and had received some complaints too.

Studies had revealed that Palakkad, Thrissur, Idukki, Kottayam and Kollam districts are quake-prone areas.

Kerala airlines

A company, Kerala International Services Limited, was registered on February 21 to start Kerala airlines, but there was no follow-up.

Steps were being taken to acquire 507 acres of land for setting up Techno City in Thiruvananthapuram, he said.

No fare hike

Transport Minister Mathew T. Thomas said the KSRTC had no proposal for fare hike at present. As many as 3,105 services of KSRTC were incurring a loss and 506 were operating profitably. After the Assembly session district-level review meetings would be held for rescheduling services. A proposal to nationalise Thrissur-Palakkad route was under consideration. As many as 2,000 applications for new schedules were pending clearance. There was no proposal to introduce seat belts in all KSRTC buses, he said.

Dilapidated bridges

Public Works Minister T.U. Kuruvila said that 57 bridges under the department were in a dilapidated state. Work on six bridges, one each in Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta and three in Kollam had not been completed.

Steps would be taken to complete the works in a time-bound manner.

The Kerala State Construction Corporation had incurred a loss of Rs.21.76 crore during 2005-06. Tar shortage had affected road works. The monthly tar requirement was 4,500 metric tonnes. Dues amounting to Rs.45 crore to the Kochi Refineries Limited for supplying bitumen had not been cleared and the supply was hit. Steps were being taken to supply tar from Bharat Petroleum Corporation, he said.

Registered for job

Labour Minister P.K. Gurudasan said that as on 31 August, 4,06,41,228 youth had registered their names in employment exchanges. Unemployment dole was being given to 3,39,879 persons. The monthly expenditure in this score was Rs.4,07,85,480, he said.

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