The Cabinet on Wednesday decided to appoint Palakkad sub-collector P.B. Nooh as special officer to coordinate government programmes in Attappady.
Minister for Rural Development and Planning K.C. Joseph told presspersons after the Cabinet meeting that the decision was taken on the basis of the report of four Ministers who had visited Attappady against the backdrop of infant deaths in the valley. A special officer was being appointed as none was there to coordinate programmes implemented by different departments.
A coordination committee with people’s representatives would be constituted to review the programmes every month. Besides the special officer, it would have Member of Parliament M.B. Rajesh, Member of Assembly N. Shamsuddin, the local district council member, district and block panchayat presidents, and presidents of three grama panchayats of the Attappady block as members.
The Minister, who visited Attappady along with Ministers V.S. Sivakumar, M.K. Muneer, and P.K. Jayalaksmi, said media reports about infant deaths were exaggerated. Only 13 infants had died in the valley this year against 31 last year. He had not told the media during his visit that the government was at fault. What he had said was that deficiencies pointed out during discussions would be remedied.
Mr. Joseph said at least one member of every tribal family in Attappady would be given 200 days of work in a year under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act against 100 days in other places. Construction of buildings for anganwadis would be taken up under the scheme.
All ongoing works in the valley would be completed in a year. An amount of Rs.74 crore had been allocated for works under the Prime Minister’s Gramin Sadak Yojana that was inaugurated recently. Treasury restrictions would not apply for expenditure in Attappady.
He said the Vattuluki farming society would be closed down. A Ministerial team would report on allocating the 1,200 acres on lease from the Forest Department to the society to tribal people in lieu of their alienated lands. Ministers in charge of Revenue, Forests, and Scheduled Tribes would prepare the report. He said Rs.2 crore had been allocated from the National Rural Health Mission funds for Attappady. The services of Deputy District Medical Officer Prabhudas would be made available full time for overseeing health care activities. Drinking water would be supplied in tankers wherever needed.
