Chandrasekhar nominated Kerala planning board V-C

The Outgoing Cabinet Secretary, Mr K. M. Chandrasekhar, has been nominated Vice-Chairman of the Kerala State Planning Board.

The announcement was made here on Wednesday by the Chief Minister, Mr Oommen Chandy, while briefing newspersons after a meeting of the State Cabinet.

The State Planning Board is yet to undergo a rejig after the Congress-led United Democratic Front Government assumed power earlier last month.

Dr Prabhat Patnaik, leading New Delhi-based economist and ideologue, is Vice-Chairman of the Planning Board. He is a nominee of the predecessor Left Democratic Front Government.

Mr Chandrasekhar, who retired from service on Tuesday after an extended four-year stint as Cabinet Secretary, will enjoy Cabinet rank in his new assignment in his home State.

In other decisions, the Cabinet extended its approval for setting up a company for implementing the proposed Metro rail project in Kochi.

The new company, to be called Kochi Metro Ltd, will be chaired by the Chief Minister. Earlier last week, the Cabinet had decided to model the Kochi Metro along the lines of the Chennai Metro.

The Chief Minister also announced the convening an all-party meeting here on June 24 to discuss a coordinated approach to deal with frequent incidents of land grab around the hill resort town of Munnar. This is being done based on the recommendations of the Revenue Minister, Mr Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, who returned to the State Capital after an on-the-spot assessment.

The Chief Minister said that his predecessor and the Leader of Opposition, Mr V. S. Achuthanandan, is being specially invited for the all-party meeting.

It was during the early part of Mr Achuthanandan's tenure that the State Government had sent a task force to Munnar and even took to razing down resorts and assorted structures built up on allegedly encroached land.

Mr Chandy suspected that a well-entrenched mafia commanding influence on both sides of the inter-State border is behind the land grab. It was using tribal people and farmers as ‘props' to carry out their nefarious operations.

The Chief Minister vowed to hunt down the perpetrators and restore the land to the State.

Mr Chandy flatly ruled out any proposal for sending in another task force to Munnar, saying that the Government has enough legal resources at its command to deal with the issue head-on.

On the contentious issue of charging a toll on the newly-built Aroor-Edappally National Highway bypass that skirts Ernakulam town, the Chief Minister hinted that suitable exemption would be made available to residents in the adjoining villages.

The toll gate was mobbed and vendors were roughed up by an irate mob on the first day it was opened for traffic. Tolling has since been suspended on the busy stretch.

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