The Hindu Business Line : Kerala says `no' to river-linking plan

THE Chief Minister, Mr A.K. Antony, has said that the State Government has informed the national taskforce on interlinking of rivers, headed by Dr Suresh Prabhu, that the proposal to link two of its rivers, Pampa and Achenkoil, with Vaippar in Tamil Nadu was not acceptable to it.

Answering a question in the State Assembly on the first day of the monsoon session here on Monday, the Chief Minister said the State Government's unflinching stand was made clear in response to a letter from the Chairman of the task force officially seeking the Government's view on the proposal.

Replying to other questions, the Chief Minister said there was no proposal before the State Government for raising the bus fare and water charges for domestic consumer anytime during the current financial year.

The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has been able to turn the corner and could very well do without a hike in bus fare at least for the time being, Mr Antony told the House.

He was, however, not that confident in the case of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA), which is a fit case for some kind of revamp. KWA, the public drinking water utility, continued to run up a loss of Rs 6 for every kilolitre of water supplied to the consumer.

The Government was exploring options other than hiking the domestic tariff for mobilising much needed additional revenues for the KWA, the Chief Minister said.

Suicide rates still high: The State continued to hold on to its dubious distinction of reporting the highest suicides rates in the country.

Almost 20,000 suicides were reported in the State over a period of the last two years, the Chief Minister informed the House, citing statistics. One hundred and eighty nine individuals in 65 families were found to have been involved in one suicide pact or the other during the period under reference. In other crime-related statistics, the Chief Minister said a total of 344 cases of kidnapping have been registered during the two-year period. Of these, 99 cases involved kidnapping of children and 113 of women.

LeT threat: The Kerala Police has launched a comprehensive assessment of the status of its security alert following reports that the extremist Leshkar-e-Taiba (LeT) had hatched a conspiracy to set off a series of bomb blasts in the State.

Announcing this, the Chief Minister told the House that he was not in a position to disclose more details as the inquiry proceedings had reached a crucial stage. To another question, Mr Antony said 126 people had been taken into custody in connection with the May 2 massacre of nine people at Marad in Kozhikode district.

The Kerala High Court had informed the State Government that it was not in a position to spare the services of a sitting judge for heading the inquiry commission into the massacre.

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