Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Cabinet names panel for fishermen’s debt relief

V.S. Achuthanandan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Cabinet on Wednesday approved the constitution of the Fishermen’s Debt Relief Commission with the retired High Court judge K.K. Dinesan as chairman.

The former member of the Assembly P. Raju, Dr. Purushan, Koottai Basheer and A. P. Jayaseelan will be members of the commission.

The Cabinet decided to re-promulgate the Kerala Sports (Amendment) Ordinance; Pampa River Basin Authority Ordinance; Kerala Land Conservancy Ordinance; and the Kerala Advocates’ Welfare Fund (Amendment) Ordinance. The term of the Sports Council will be extended by six months.

The Cabinet also approved a proposal to rename the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation as KTDC Hotels and Resorts Limited.

Briefing the media on the Cabinet decisions, Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said that there would not be any change in the public ownership of the company. The name was just being changed because foreign tourists often failed to understand the character of the company as one providing hospitality services. The Chief Minister said that the six acres belonging to various government departments at Nedumkandam in Idukki district would be transferred to the Nedumkandam panchayat for constructing a stadium.

Replying to questions, Mr. Achuthanandan said that a new Chief Secretary would be chosen on the basis of seniority and other criteria to replace P.J. Thomas who was going on deputation to the Centre. Mr. Thomas had sought to leave the State as his wife was employed in Delhi and one of his children needed better medical care.

He defended the cutting of avenue trees in Thiruvananthapuram noting that only trees essential for road development had been cut. Cutting of trees was being discouraged to the extent possible.

Mr. Achuthanandan admitted that he could not ensure satisfactory investigation of Kiliroor and Kottiyam sex racket cases. He had written to the Centre twice about CBI investigation into the Kiliroor case. He could do nothing more than asking the Centre to ensure proper investigation.

He recalled that the government could provide considerable relief to farmers during the past two years. Debts of both farmers and fishermen were being written off.

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