Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

New ration cards to be issued soon

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: New ration cards will be issued soon after getting the revised lists of BPL and APL families, Food and Civil Supplies Minister C. Divakaran has said.

Replying to questions in the Assembly on Monday, Mr. Divakaran said that more time would be given to Non-Resident Keralites to enrol their names in the cards, if needed. There were 70.25 lakh card-holders in the State, but 68 lakh applications were received for new cards.

The new cards, which would be a comprehensive document comprising all relevant details of a family, would be issued on getting the revised list of APL and BPL families. The cost of a card was Rs.15. Temporary cards were not being issued now. Fake cards had been seized. New ration shops would be opened if needed, he said.

As many as 24 cases had been registered for smuggling rice from ration shops and seized 187.063 tonnes of rice. Thirteen cases were registered against wholesale dealers. The department had registered 30 cases for smuggling ration goods. This year the department conducted 2,458 raids on the premises of wholesale dealers and registered 54 cases as part of the drive against hoarding and black-marketing, he said.

Fisheries Minister S. Sarma said the insurance scheme for fish workers would be launched next month. The government has urged the Centre to include fishermen cooperatives too in the loan waiver scheme.

The government had accepted in principle to set up a coastal area development corporation. A satellite centre of the proposed aqua-technology park would be set up at Pannivelichira, he said.

Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said no judicial inquiry had been ordered into the appointments to the post of assistants in Kerala University. There were 40 vacancies of IAS, 11 IPS and 17 IFS cadres in the State. Four IAS officers, K.M. Abraham, P.K. Mohanty, P.H. Kurien and Amitabh Kant; three IPS officers, M.N. Krishnamoorthy, Raman Srivastava and K.S. Balasubramaniam had applied for deputation to other States.

During the past two years, the government registered 258 Vigilance cases involving 519 officers. Prosecution proceedings had been initiated against 67 officers. The tribunal had ordered inquiry against four officers and departmental action against two officers, he said.

Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said that 164 persons had been arrested under the Goonda Act. As many as 257 criminal cases involving policemen of different ranks had been registered in the past two years, he said.

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