The Cabinet on Tuesday decided to subsidise market intervention measures by the State Cooperatives Consumers’ Federation (Consumerfed).
Briefing the media, Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan said that government would grant assistance to the Federation to make up its losses resulting from subsidised sale of essential commodities.
The Chief Minister also announced that 300 new posts would be created in the State Civil Supplies Corporation to improve the public distribution system and strengthen measures to check rising prices.
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The Cabinet, he said, decided to form a sub-committee with the Chief Minister as chairman for overseeing implementation of the unique id project in the State.
It also decided to acquire land for the Vizhinjam International Transhipment Terminal Project and the Kinfra Industrial Park at Ottappalam on a fast track basis. The quantum of compensation for the evictees was not decided. It cleared a proposal to grant full time benefits to part-time specialist teachers in aided schools who have completed 15 years of service.
The Cabinet approved the recommendations of the committee on granting of grade promotion to 1977 batch of IPS officers. Accordingly, V. R. Rajiven, Siby Mathews and Aravind Ranjan will be promoted to the rank of Director General of Police. Placements will be given when vacancies arise. Similarly, Vinson M. Paul, Arunkumar Sinha and M. N. Krishnamurthy, who belong to the 1984 batch, will be promoted as additional director generals of police.
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The Cabinet resolved to recommend to the Centre the declaration of 2010 as national year of coir in order to promote the consumption of coir and coir products in the country. It approved a proposal to lease 39 cents of land in Sasthamangalam village of Thiruvananthapuram for modernisation of the wholesale fish market at Pangode.
Mr. Achuthanandan said that the Cabinet had also approved a proposal to buy 1000 copies of the complete works of Swadeshabhimani Ramakrishna Pillai and distribute them to the school libraries.
Asked about the criticisms raised by Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan about the National Investigation Agency taking over ongoing investigation into burning of bus at Kalamassery and other terrorism related cases in the State, the Chief Minister said that the Home Minister only desired to be officially informed about that. What he had learnt was that there was no difference over the national agency taking over the investigation. “Let the Agency undertake the investigation.”
He declined to comment on reports that he had written to the Central leadership of the party objecting to the stand taken by the State unit of the party on future electoral understandings with the Peoples Democratic Party led by Abdul Nasir Maudhany. “I do not propose to share the contents of letters written to the party leadership with the media.”
He also refused to comment on criticisms about alleged bias in police investigations. “I don’t propose to intervene in ongoing investigations and invite criticism for that,” he remarked.