State to seek more Central fund

By Our Staff Reporter

PATHANAMTHITTA, JULY 22. The Minister for Rural Development, Mr. C. F. Thomas, has said the Central fund to Kerala for rural development is quite insufficient to meet the needs of the State.

Talking to presspersons here today, the Minister said the State Government had prepared a few rural development projects that would be of much help in solving the unemployment problem facing the State to a certain extent and it would be submitted to the Union Government soon.

Mr. Thomas said the State Government has constituted an expert committee to study the problems reportedly hampering the State's rural development and also the development of traditional industrial units.

He said that the fund allocation to the State even by the Central Khadi Commission was far below the needs of the State.

Mr. Thomas said he had apprised the Union Minister for Rural Development, Mr. Venkaia Naidu, of the poor Central assistance to the State's rural development at a recent meeting in Hyderabad.

BJP connection

To a question, Mr. Thomas, who is also the KC(M) chairman, said that so far the party leadership had not received any complaints about the party sharing power with the BJP or accepting the BJP support in any of the local bodies in the State.

If the party gets any written complaint on the issue, a committee would be constituted to probe the issue and appropriate decision would be taken as per the report, he added.

However, Mr. Thomas refused to say anything about the new political front formed by Mr. P. C. Thomas, MP. The KC(M) MLAs, Mr. Mammen Mathai and Mr. Joseph M. Puthussery, were present on the occasion.

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