THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government has declared a moratorium on loans in the farm and dairy sectors and education loans for a period of one year in view of the floods.
Thursday’s Cabinet meeting also decided to slash the plan fund share by 20 per cent for aiding reconstruction and to appoint a high-level committee headed by the Chief Secretary to coordinate the post-flood rehabilitation and asset reconstruction works. The cut in plan fund will not be applicable to students’ scholarships, the annual plans for PWD, irrigation and power supply and the state shares in NABARD and Centrally-funded schemes, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters.
The Cabinet has declared the moratorium on loans by rejecting the conditions set by the state-level bankers’ committee (SLBC), the CM said. Though the banks had argued for the exclusion of defaulters from the ambit of the moratorium, the Cabinet rejected the proposal.
The Cabinet has decided to form a high-level panel of experts from different sectors, and retired government servants for supervising the post-flood ‘Navakeralam’ rebuilding programme.
The Cabinet has decided to provide priority ration card holders, NREGA job card holders, SC/ST communities, destitute, women-centric families, widows and the disabled with ‘livelihood kits’ containing rice and essential commodities during October, November and December.
A panel which includes the additional Chief Secretaries for revenue and planning, finance Principal Secretary and IT Secretary has been appointed to coordinate the mobilisation of post-flood reconstruction funds via CSR funds of corporates, crowd funding and sponsorships. The Additional Chief Secretaries for environment and LSGD and Secretary, Geology and Mining, have been asked to identify the places rendered uninhabitable by the floods and to devise separate projects for such locales.