The Hindu Business Line : Kerala CM to discuss calamity relief with Pawar

THE Chief Minister, Mr A. K. Antony, is leaving for New Delhi tomorrow to meet with the Union Agriculture Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar, in a bid to sort out the fracas resulting from the Centre's rebuff to Kerala's repeated entreaties on calamity relief.

Speaking to newspersons here after a meeting of the State Cabinet, Mr Antony said the State had not benefited in any manner from the "supposedly favourable" change in Government at the Centre.

Not only have its genuine pleas for emergency assistance been turned down, it also has had to watch helplessly as other similarly afflicted States managed to have their way with the Centre, he said.

The State Government now proposes to submit a separate memorandum giving the loss in yield from perennial crops due to drought.

Separately, it has also sought an immediate decision on initiating work on the Vallarpadam transhipment project at Kochi.

According to the Chief Minister, a meeting of the Cabinet scheduled for September 15 will take a final decision on handover of the Halcyon Castle adjoining the erstwhile Kovalam Beach Resort under the ownership of India Tourist Development Corporation (ITDC) to a private hotelier.

Medical admissions: The Cabinet also took a decision to the effect that admission of students under the management quota to the medical, dental, siddha, ayurveda and pharmacy courses in the self-financing professional colleges in the State be made from the common entrance list maintained by the Commissioner of Entrance Examinations for the current year.

This comes in the backdrop of the Supreme Court's disapproval of entrance examinations conducted separately by the consortium of self-financing professional colleges for selecting eligible students. With this, the managements would be bound to invite applicants from the common entrance list for purposes of filling up seats under the management quota for the current year.

Cabinet reshuffle: The Chief Minister said he would urge the Congress High Command to end the uncertainty over a prospective reshuffle of the State Cabinet, which has been hanging fire for sometime now.

He would meet up with the Congress President, Ms Sonia Gandhi, and other leaders of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) during his stay in New Delhi, and discuss various options.

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