The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : KWA to replace old equipment

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 22, 2011
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

KWA to replace old equipment

Special Correspondent

Sanction for Rs.36-crore project, says Premachandran

Honorarium for teachers of alternative schools
Land for rail coach factory ready: Vijayakumar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government has given administrative sanction for a Rs.36-crore project to repair or replace aged motors and pump sets at the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) pump houses, Water Resources Minister N.K. Premachandran has said.

Replying to a submission by K. Sivadasan Nair (Congress) in the Assembly on Monday, the Minister said the motors and pump sets in many of the pump houses were up to 20 years old. Replacement of such pump sets and motors would be taken up this summer, he added.

Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac told K.K. Divakaran (CPI-M) that the government had decided to pay a honorarium of Rs.4,000 to teachers in the 446 Multi-Grade Learning Centres (MGLC), which were more commonly known as ‘alternative schools.' The schools were sanctioned under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and were due for wind-up. Since these were located in difficult areas inhabited by Adivasis and other vulnerable sections who would need more time to get integrated with the educational mainstream, the State government had requested the Centre to extend its tenure, the Minister said.

Public Works Minister M. Vijayakumar told M. Hamsa (CPI-M) that the Centre was yet to give in-principle approval for the long-awaited railway coach factory in Palakkad.

The government had acquired 429.27 acres out of the 430 acres that the Centre had sought for the purpose and was ready to hand it over, free of cost, if the project were to be implemented fully under the Central government.

If it would be a joint sector project between the Centre and the State, Kerala would be ready to give the land on an equity basis. In the event of the project being implemented in partnership with the private sector, the State would be willing to give the land on lease, he added.

Assistance

Health Minister P.K. Sreemathy told V.N. Vasavan (CPI-M) that the Kerala Social Security Mission would deposit in a nationalised bank Rs.2 lakh in the name of the Kiliroor sex scandal victim's daughter. The money would be redeemable when the girl attains ‘major' status.

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

Kerala