THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Food and Civil Supplies Minister T M Jacob has said that the state will convey its concern to the Centre over the proposed restriction on the distribution of LPG cylinders. Replying to a submission presented by Elamaram Kareem in the Assembly on Tuesday, the Minister said the Centre is yet to take a decision on this though the Cabinet sub-committee had made such a recommendation. If implemented, the decision will have a serious impact on a state like Kerala where over 90 percent of the people are dependent on LPG connections. Jacob said that the government would soon write to the Centre in this regard and he would meet the Union Minister to apprise him about the state’s concern. However, Elamaram Kareem said that the Centre’s move was to slash the subsidy given to the states for supplying LPG cylinders. He said that the proposal was to limit the supply of cylinders to the customers in a year to just four and charge Rs 800 for every extra cylinder supplied. This is nothing but a heavy burden on the consumers, to which the state should protest, he said. Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan said that the House should pass a unanimous resolution conveying the state’s concern over the issue. However, this was not supported by the Food and Civil Supplies Minister who said that the State Government would communicate the state’s concern to the Centre.ORGAN DONATION: Health Minister Adoor Prakash informed the House that the law for organ donation would be simplified to promote the practice in the state. The organ donation is decided by a committee headed by Medical College Principal.Human trafficking: To check human trafficking from the state, the government has appointed a team with Kannur Range DIG S Sreejith as the nodal officer. The ADGP Intelligence has been entrusted with the task of monitoring such activities from the neighbouring states to Kerala, said the Health Minister in the Assembly.Pending filesRural Development Minister K C Joseph said that there were 1.4 lakh files pending clearance in the Government Secretariat. In other departments, according to a rough estimate, there are 3 lakh files pending. ‘’As part of the 100-day programme, the State Government had decided to clear all these pending files except those which are caught in the legal battle,’’ the Minister said.Performance Monitoring and Evaluation SystemThe government has decided to bring in necessary amendments to the existing rules to implement performance monitoring and evaluation system in various government departments. Rice at Rs 2-a-kg: Food and Civil Supplies Minister T M Jacob said that the government had decided to delete the names of ineligible candidates who were receiving the Rs 2-per-kg rice. It has been found that under the APL category, several officials are also getting the benefit of this scheme, he said.
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