The Hindu Business Line : Kerala to set up department for programme implementation

THE State Government has decided to set up a separate Monitoring and Programme Implementation Department that will concern itself with the nitty-gritty of pursuing specific developmental milestones that the former has promised to negotiate within the first 100 days in power.

Briefing newspersons after a meeting of the State Cabinet, the Chief Minister, Mr Oommen Chandy, said that the Government now proposed to go one step ahead and prepare a set of targets to be achieved during a one-year period beginning November 1.

Earlier last week, the Government had unveiled an action plan to implement a slew of welfare and development projects during the first 100 days.

It included implementation of the development agenda that had been set in motion by the Global Investors' meet held in Kochi a coupe of years ago, launching of new projects in the traditional industries sector and accelerating economic development through judicious resort to information technology.

The Chief Minister had then dropped sufficient hints about extrapolating the 100-day programme to the full year that immediately followed.

On Wednesday, however, he refrained from divulging the details of programmes that would be pursued during period.

Public contact programme: Meanwhile, the Chief Minister announced a major public contact programme, which would see him travelling through the length of the State and interacting with different sections of the society at separately delineated hours.

The programme would begin on October 14 from the district of Wayanad. The Chief Minister would use these interactive sessions to listen to and examine complaints/petitions from the public and take on-the-spot decisions wherever possible.

He would also review progress on files that may have been pending action for varying periods as also those not acted upon after having been opened during the course of a preceding public contact session at the district level.

Bus fare hiked: Bowing to persistent demands from fleet operators in the State, the Government proceeded to announce a hike in the fares of private buses and ordinary services of the public sector Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC). Premium services of KSRTC (fast passengers, super fast passengers and express) have been kept out of the purview of the hike, the Chief Minister said.

Accordingly, the minimum fare has been revised upwards from Rs 2 to Rs 2.50. This, however, fell short of the Rs 3.50 demanded by private bus operators.

Explaining, the Chief Minister said he had to walk the tight rope by not being seen as seeking to hurt the sentiments of the commuters on the one hand and going the extra mile to please the fleet operators, on the other. The per kilometre rate has now been hiked from 35 paise to 42 paise.

The Government had based its decision on the recommendations submitted by the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (Natpac), an autonomous body.

According to the Chief Minister, the hike had been rendered inevitable in view of the fact that the fares were last revised when diesel prices ruled at Rs 18.88 per litre. This had since come to be revised twice over and the latest ruling price had touched Rs 26 per litre.

Halcyon Palace: In another decision, the State Cabinet resolved that the Halcyon Castle, adjoining the erstwhile ITDC Kovalam Beach Resort, which the Centre disinvested in, be taken over by the State Government.

The beach resort has been acquired by a private hotelier but various organisations and political parties have been protesting the ownership of the Halcyon Palace, which dates back to the period of the erstwhile Travancore royal family.

They have been demanding that the heritage site should not be handed over to a private investor. The Castle, which overlooks the Arabian Sea, witnessed violent incidents involving protesting mobs and policemen.

The State Government would proceed to acquire the Castle and the 4.21-hectare land on which it stands, the Chief Minister said. The decision was taken on the basis of a report submitted by a high-level official team led by the Chief Secretary.

This was expected to adequately protect the State's interests, even while not being seen as violating the spirit of the Centre's disinvestment initiative. All the same, the State Government wanted to send out the right signals to private investors looking for opportunities in the State, the Chief Minister added.