Those living in uninhabitable houses will also be considered homeless. Such persons too would be included in the upcoming ‘Life’ scheme, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.
He was participating in the question hour in the Assembly here on Tuesday.
The Life scheme aims at providing a house to each ration card-holder in the State.
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Minister for Local Self Governments K.T. Jaleel told the Assembly that a survey by the Kudumbasree had found that 45% of the applicants were eligible for a new house. The construction of housing complexes — one in each district — would begin by the end of May.
In reply to a question, Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar told the Assembly that the government intended to set up one weather station in each panchayat. At present, there were 134 such stations in the State. The Krishi Bhavan would organise workshop to include all farmers in the crop insurance scheme. Till date, Rs.368.85 crore had been distributed under the rubber price stability scheme. The State had asked the centre for a compensation of Rs.784.6 crore for crop loss.
Bunds (Ooru Muttu) had been put in place before December 2016 to prevent the intrusion of salt water into paddy fields. However, intrusion had happened in many places. The government would give compensation to the tune of Rs.13,500 an acre.
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By handing over the dredging in ports to local bodies, the process had become more transparent and corruption-free, Minister for Ports Kadannappally Ramachandran told the Assembly. The government had announced a new policy for manual dredging. This would be done in nine ports. For this, local workers with prior experience in manual dredging would be deployed.
In reply to a question, Transport Minister Thomas Chandy said the pink bus experiment in Thiruvananthapuram — aimed at ensuring security of women — was not a financial success. The scheme would not be operated in districts.
The Chief Minister told the Assembly that after the LDF government assumed office, 294 murders took place. As many as 179 men, 69 women, and 36 children lost their lives. The latest of the murders took place in Thiruvananthapuram where overall 43 murders took place. The maximum number of women killed, 13, was also in the capital district. The maximum number of children killed, 9, was in Malappuram. As many as 81 suspects in murder cases were yet to be captured. Charge-sheets had been filed in 143 cases.