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Our Bureau

Thiruvananthapuram, Dec. 10

Kerala’s public debt was at around Rs 57,063 crore at the end of October this year, according to the Finance Minister, Dr Thomas Isaac.

Answering questions in the State Assembly on Wednesday, the Minister said that the per capita debt as per the 2001 census was Rs 17,944.

He said that the Government had suffered losses to the tune of crores of rupees in the purchase of drugs by the 14 district medical stores through the Central Purchase Committee.

An examination of the financial wing had revealed that the loss was owing to the negligence of the Director of Health Services, district medical officers, store superintendents and State and district store verification officers.

The inspection report had been forwarded to the Health Department to look into the necessity of vigilance probe, the Minister said.

The Minister for Works, Mr Mons K. Joseph, informed the House that the second stage of Kerala State Transport Project (KSTP) would cover roads spanning 367 km. The land acquisition over 233 km had been completed and acquisition for the remaining part would be over soon.

A nine-member expert committee had been constituted to prepare a road policy for the State, the Minister said and added that no policy decision had been taken in the matter of Express Highway project.

The Minister for Health, Ms P.K. Sreemathy, said in reply to a question that 100 Neethi medical stores would be opened in the current year and the Government proposed to open 500 medical stores over the next three years. The target is to open one medical store in each panchayat, two in a municipality and five each in corporation limits.

The Minister for Tourism, Mr Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, said that new tourism master plans would be drawn up for Munnar, Kovalam, Kumarakom, Fort Kochi, Wayanad and Thekkady.

More Stories on : Economy | Kerala

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