The Hindu : Maveli stores for all panchayats

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 08, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

Maveli stores for all panchayats

By Our Special Correspondent

Thiruvananthapuram June 7. The Food and Civil Supplies Minister, G. Karthikeyan, has said that the State Government would open Maveli stores in all panchayats in the next two years, Maveli medical stores in all taluks, besides bringing 2 lakh families under the Antodaya scheme.

Addressing a `Meet-the-Minister' programme organised by the Thiruvananthapuram Press Club and the State Public Relations Department here today, he said the Civil Supplies Department and the Civil Supplies Corporation would complete their computerisation programme this year. Families that have not been allotted house numbers by the respective local bodies would be issued ration cards. The new building of the State Consumer Commission at Vazhuthacaud in the city would be commissioned on July 4 as part of the Government's efforts to infuse fresh energy into the functioning of the newly set up Consumer Affairs Department. Consumer information guidance cells would be established in the Consumer Affairs Department in the State Secretariat, the Civil Supplies Directorate and the corporation.

The Minister said the off-take of food grains for the below the poverty line segment of the population came to 53.01 per cent of the total Central allocation. However, there were no takers for food grains for the above the poverty line category. He said that Information Technology software for ration shops had been introduced only on a trial basis. The State had put up a proposal to the Centre for implementing it in ration shops throughout the State.

He said that there were hardly any allegations about runaway prices of commodities and considered this an achievement of his department. The State's network of fair price shops was facing a major challenge in terms of increasing operational costs and changing tastes of the consumers. The cost of running fair price shops had gone up by leaps and bounds, but the traditional budgetary support for the Civil Supplies Corporation continued to be Rs 50 crores.

Directorate for culture: Mr. Karthikeyan, who also holds charge of Cultural Affairs and Devaswom, said the Government was considering a proposal to set up a Cultural Affairs Directorate to coordinate the functioning of cultural organisations and cultural activities. He said that several cultural organisations under Government control were doing the same kind of work, leading to wasteful expenditure. In reply to a question, Mr. Karthikeyan said that he did not feel that a cultural policy was needed for the State, which had its own unique traditions.

In reply to a question, he said the Government did not have any proposal envisaging the formation of a Malabar Devaswom Board by including the Guruvayur devaswom. The Malabar Devaswom Board Bill was now before the Select Committee of the Assembly. The committee, which is headed by the Minister, was in the process of examining the various aspects of law very carefully before finalising the various provisions of the Bill, he said.

Devaswom lands: One of the most important works now being undertaken by various devaswoms was in relation to recovering their lost and alienated land. All temples would construct compound walls in order to prevent further alienation. Some of the temples were in possession of land, but did not have the legal documents. The devaswoms are now in the process of updating their records, he added. He said a sewage treatment plant would be set up in Sabarimala ahead of the festival season this year. The functioning of the Pampa sewage plant would be expanded. It would now be possible to provide more facilities to Sabarimala pilgrims as the Centre had released 20 hectares of forest land for `permissive use' consequent on the pressure put by the State Government.

Mr. Karthikeyan also expressed unhappiness for being put on the docks on issues relating to the Cultural Affairs Department. He said he had never triggered off any controversies of his own and had only openly expressed his opinion on several issues. Referring to his confrontation with literary and film personalities (such as Adoor Gopalakrishnan and M.T. Vasudevan Nair), he said it was unfortunate that he should be given nicknames for merely expressing his opinion. He said that as an individual, he had respect for these cultural personalities, but he would continue to open up whenever such people entered the domains other than their own.

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