Nearly 20,000 title deeds (patta) will be distributed to eligible people in all the 14 districts in the State as part of the first anniversary celebrations of the United Democratic Front Government, Adoor Prakash, Revenue Minister, has said.
The Minister was addressing a ‘Meet the Press' programme at Pathanamthitta Press Club on Saturday. He said the government had also taken scientific measures to check misuse of the title deeds issued, by making holograms and recording the identity card number of the beneficiary on it. Misuse of the title deeds issued by the government had been reported from certain parts of the State and it would be treated as a criminal offence, he added.
Mr Prakash said the government had already identified 15,304 people for issuing title deeds and the Revenue officials were told to identify various other eligible people too, after proper verification of records. A total of 5,000 title deeds would be issued in Idukki district, 1,268 in Thiruvananthapuram, 1,074 in Kasaragod, 2,174 in Malappuram, 963 in Kollam, 1,700 in Thrissur, 1,100 in Kozhikode and 138 in Pathanamthitta, he said.
Mr Prakash said the list of eligible applicants would be published by August 15.
Chengara issue
The Minister said the government had been chalking out a welfare scheme for the landless families who were occupying a portion of the rubber estate of Harrison Malayalam Limited in Chengara. As per the scheme, the landless families in Chengara would be given land in Kasaragod district — 50 cents each to scheduled caste families and 25 cents each to other landless people.
The idea was to constitute a society for the rehabilitation and welfare of these landless people and to bring all of them in the ambit of the society, he said. However, certain quarters were reportedly trying to keep the agitation at Chengara always live, misleading the poor landless people, the Minister alleged.
Mr. Prakash said the government mission was to set up a model village in the name of K.R. Narayanan, former President of India, in Kasaragod for the landless and homeless people at Chengara. He said the land for distribution among the landless families would be finalised only after a joint verification.
The Minister also said stern action would be initiated against all illegal land conversions reportedly taking place in the State. He said excess land identified in each district would be attached to the land bank set up in the respective district.
Medical colleges
Mr Prakash said the proposed four Government Medical Colleges would start functioning next year itself. The 50 acres of land identified for the proposed medical college in Konni had been handed over to the Medical Education Department on Saturday and the work on the college would begin soon.
The proposed medical college in Malappuram would be attached to the General Hospital at Manjeri and the one in Idukki would be attached to the District Hospital there, he said. He said the Government medical college in Kasargod would be set up in the 60-acre land identified in Badiyadukka panchayat.
Karunya pharmacy
Mr. Prakash said the government had decided to extend the functioning of Karunya pharmacy to more places with a view to provide drugs at cheaper rates to the common people. According to him, Pegasys (Peginterferon Alfa-2a), a costly drug used to treat chronic Hepatitis-B or C and sold at a whopping Rs.18,298 at various drug houses, was being sold at a mere Rs.6994 through the Karunya outlets.
Achenkovil-Sabarimala Road
Mr. Prakash said the work on the 1.6-km Neeliplavu-Thannithode stretch of the Achenkovil-Sabarimala Road, estimated at Rs.1.43 crore, would begin soon.
He said a high-speed corridor between Pathanamthitta and Konni, too, was under serious consideration of the government so as to facilitate speedy transportation of men and materials between the proposed medical college hospital in Konni and the General Hospital in Pathanamthitta.
