Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Rs.15 lakh for Major Sandeep’s family

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Cabinet on Wednesday decided to grant Rs.15 lakh to the next of kin of Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan who was killed while fighting terrorists in Mumbai last week.

The Cabinet also decided to provide five cents of land and Rs.5 lakh to the family of Keralites Murugan and Anish Prabhu (Thiruvananthapuram district) who were killed in the terrorist attack at the Chatrapathi Sivaji Terminal in Mumbai. For the family of Thomas Varghese (Aluva) and Gopalakrishnan (Palakkad), who were victims of the terrorist attack, Rs.2.5 lakh each were sanctioned.

It sanctioned Rs.5 lakh each to the family of soldiers Jojan Thomas and Sujith Babu who were killed in Kashmir, fighting enemies. Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, who announced the decisions after the Cabinet meeting, said that he had expressed regret about his remarks on Sandeep Unnikrishnan’s father in the Assembly itself. He had repeated that to the media as interested parties had started the propaganda that he had not apologised to the family of Unnikrishnan.

The Chief Minister also denied that he had made any derogatory references in the Assembly. Some people, who could not attack Opposition Leader Oommen Chandy directly, were doing that indirectly by raising such allegations.

Mr. Achuthanandan announced that the Cabinet had decided to extend the moratorium on recovery of loans availed by fisherfolk of Kerala by six months from November 2 this year. This would apply to proceedings which had been initiated or proposed to be initiated.

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