THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Over 15,000 houses have to be constructed by the state government as part of rehabilitating the flood affected. Among these, around 10,000 families have informed the state government they are ready to construct houses they need if the government provides the Rs 4 lakh assistance announced for the victims. The cooperative sector has started working on building as many as 2,000 houses for the flood victims and the remaining 3,000 houses have to be constructed by the state government.
The state government is committed to construct these houses without much delay and the government in consultation with various agencies is working on it, said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the Assembly.
While replying to the adjournment motion moved by the Opposition, he said the post-disaster need assessment has pegged the loss of the state at Rs 26,720 cr and Rs 31,000 crore for rebuilding the state, while Kerala has suffered a livelihood loss of Rs 10,358 crore. While 15,845 houses were damaged completely, over 2.4 lakh houses sustained partial damages.
As part of mitigating the impact of the flood, the state government identified 83,028 people and provided counselling to help them come out of the trauma.
The Kudumbasree has distributed a sum of Rs 374 crore to 43,388 families and the list of which was published on their website, he said. The Chief Minister also listed the details of loss each sector suffered and the amount the government spent so far in the Assembly.
On the fund collection initiative, the Chief Minister said the CMDRF has received Rs 2,733 crore of which Rs 488.60 crore was contributed by the staff.
Out of the Rs 600 crore provided by the Centre, the state was told to repay Rs 33.9 crore for airlifting charge and Rs 265 crore for supplying rice and other essentials.
Further, the state has sought a special package of Rs 5,616 crore and the government has approached the Centre to get its borrowing limit raised. However, the Centre is yet to take a decision on it.
Though the Opposition was not happy with the dealing of affairs by the state and the subsequent reply of the CM, they extended their support to register their protest of the state against the snub by the Centre.
1 lakh applicants yet to be included in ration card priority list: Minister
T’Puram: Food and Civil Supplies minister P Thilothaman told the Assembly around 1 lakh eligible applicants were yet to be included in the ration priority category. A check by civil supply officers found 2,75,130 cards ineligible. They were removed from the priority category. About 15 lakh applications have been received for new ration card, of which only 11 lakh are eligible. Of them, 6.5 lakh have been issued the card. The rest will be distributed in this month.
POCSO Court with global standards to come up in Kochi, says Shailaja
T’Puram: To dispose of the pending cases and speedy trial of POCSO Act cases, the government would set up one more POCSO court in the state with international standards. The new court will start functioning from Kochi and it will be a child-friendly court, Social Justice Minister K K Shailaja informed Assembly on Wednesday. “A master plan for the project has been completed. The project will be implemented based on the recommendations in the master plan,” she said.
Govt trying to reopen closed pvt cashew factories
T’Puram: Minister J Mercykutty Amma, who handles the cashew portfolio, said the government is trying to reopen the private cashew factories that had downed their shutters due to varying reasons. According to the minister, the non-availability of raw cashew nuts (RCN) coupled with non-sanctioning of loans by banking institutions had only helped aggravate the crisis in the sector. The minister said this while replying to a calling attention motion moved by R Ramachandran MLA regarding the problems faced by cashew workers at the Assembly on Wednesday.
IAV to become reality next month
T’Puram: Facilitating high-end research in identifying and studying viruses and viral infections, the proposed Institute of Advanced Virology (IAV) at Thonnakkal, here will come into being on January, Health Minister K K Shailaja told the Assembly. Based on the inspection and approval from the technical committee, the contract for the construction of the prefabricated building of IAV has been provided to Uralungal Labour Contract Society Ltd, she said.
Anganwadis in state to be made pre-schools
T’Puram: Anganwadis in the state will have a major revamp soon with the Social Justice Department deciding to uplift it to pre-school status with world-class facilities, Social Justice Minister K K Shylaja informed the assembly. Replying to a question, she said a master plan for the project is under way and it will be implemented in select Anganwadis in the first phase. In addition, the pension of Anganawadi workers will be increased from D500 to D1,000.