Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Friday said the Centre had directed oil companies to provide LPG cylinder subsidy to those who had not done Aadhaar seeding.
Talking to The Hindu here, the Chief Minister said there was no basis for reports that the oil companies would stop paying subsidy to those who had not linked their Aadhaar number with their bank account from Saturday. He said the State government had taken up the issue with the Centre and the latter had promised to issue the necessary directive.
On the much-delayed rail coach factory in Palakkad, for which the foundation stone was laid two years ago, the Chief Minister said “the government will again take up the matter with the Centre to start construction of the factory.”
On reports about a move to further bifurcate the Palakkad railway division to create the proposed Gulbarga rail division, the Chief Minister said “no such move will be allowed. Already the Palakkad rail division had been bifurcated to create the Salem division. So the government will not allow any further bifurcation of the Palakkad division”.
Earlier, inaugurating the distribution of land for the landless people, the Chief Minister said the deadline to apply for the scheme had been extended by a month. He said the aim of the government was to provide land for all landless people.
Mr. Chandy said even landless people from Kannur and Kasaragod, which had been earlier covered under the scheme, could apply. He said 23,611 people had been found landless in the district. The government could give land only to 1,937 people at the ‘pattaya mela’ here on Friday. He called upon people with large holdings to provide land to the government to implement the scheme.
Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash presided over the function. Tourism Minister A.P. Anilkumar, K.V. Vijayadas, N. Samsudheen, M. Hamsa, K.S. Saleekha, K. Achuthan, Shafi Parambil, and V.T. Balram, MLAs, addressed the gathering.
