T'PURAM: The state cabinet, which met on Tuesday, has decided to appoint former state police chief Loknath Behera as the Managing Director of Kochi Metro Rail Ltd. The appointment will be for a period of three years.
The cabinet also decided to implement the digital re-survey project in four phases in 1550 villages at a cost of Rs 807.98 crore. Administrative sanction of Rs 339.438 crore has been accorded for the first phase of the project. The services offered by the departments of Revenue, Survey and Registration will be
unified after implementation of the project.
The cabinet also decided to acquire 955.13 hectare of land, adhering to the conditions of the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 and subject to final approval from Railway Board, for the Semi High Speed Rail Line project.
Pension benefits of retired employees of High Court will be revised and an Anomaly Rectification Cell will be set up to deal with issues related to pay revision of government employees. The General Manager (Technical) post in Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd (KMML) will be revived and appointment will be made to the post.
The cabinet also decided to provide financial assistance to those who had committed suicide either due to crop loss in the wake of the 2018 flood or wild animal attacks and also due to acute financial distress. Accordingly, the next of kin of G Ramakrishnan, V D Dineshkumar, Enkittan and M M Ramadas will be
provided Rs 3 lakh each.
Rs 2 lakh each will be disbursed to the parents of Praveen Nair who died after inhaling toxic gas in a Nepal hotel. Rs 10 lakh will be provided to meet the educational expenses of Madhav Ranjith who lost both his parents - Ranjith and Indulakshmi from Kozhikode - in the tragedy. The amount will be deposited in
the bank till he attains the age of 18 and the interest will be used for his educational expenses.