THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Building tax will be revised and houses will be given new door numbers, Minister for Local Administration Paloli Mohammed Kutty said here on Tuesday.

Replying to questions in the Assembly on Tuesday, Mr. Kutty said the new numbering system would be introduced soon.

He said local self-government institutions had been directed to step up tax collection to garner funds for development projects. Civic bodies would not be permitted to divert Plan funds to meet establishment expenses.

He said computerisation of local bodies would be completed soon. The Government was planning to introduce a unified town planning Act. The Act would have provisions to protect heritage zones and norms for constructing buildings there.

Minister for Power A.K. Balan said the power charge arrears due to the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) till December 31 last year was Rs. 1,676 crore. NRK database

Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said that administrative sanction had been given to the Department of Non-Resident Keralites Affairs (NORKA) and the Centre for Development Studies (CDS) to set up a database of non-resident Keralites (NRK) for Rs. 50 lakh. The first instalment of Rs. 25 lakh had been given to the CDS. The database would be set up within two years.

Minister for Industries Elamaram Karim said the Government had held discussions with six information technology companies and their units had started functioning too.

Eight others had evinced interest in setting up units, but they could not start functioning owing to space shortage in IT parks.

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