Manmohan Singh agrees to hear Kerala on Kasturirangan report

Thiruvananthapuram: Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Saturday said that  the centre would not take a decision on Kasturirangan report without hearing the views of the state.

He  gave the assurance to Chief Minister  Oommen Chandy and his cabinet colleagues at the special cabinet meeting attended by him at the Raj Bhavan. Earlier, the Chief Minister submitted a memorandum to him listing the various demands of the state.

The government requested the centre to make an amendment that the Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESA) notified would be modified on the basis of physical verification and that the actual habitation and agricultural areas would be deleted.   The recommendations of the High-Level Working Group to exclude plantation, agricultural settlements and human settlements having population density higher than 100 persons per square km may be accepted, it said.

The Chief Minister told the PM that the Gadgil and Kasturirangan reports had created a lot of apprehension among the people living in areas identified as ESA.

On the LPG issue, the Chief Minister sought the Prime Minister's intervention in granting sufficient time for implementing the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme for consumers. He also sought relaxation in norms to ensure that orphanages and other similar institutions get  subsidized supply of LPG.

The government demanded the PM’s intervention in making the rail coach factory in Palakkad a reality. While the government had transferred 239 acres of land to railways on August 17, 2012, the project hit a road block because of the railways’ failure to finalise a partner for the joint venture.  The other coach factories which were approved along with Palakkad have already started functioning, it pointed out.

It urged the Prime Minister to exempt Vizhinjam  seaport  from cabotage law as was done in the case of Vallarpadam terminal.  It sought his intervention in expediting the Angamaly-Sabari rail project which would be a great boon for thousands of pilgrims visiting Sabarimala shrine every year.

The centre was urged to take over the  Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden & Research Institute (JNTBGRI) by the Department of Bio-Technology and implement  a  compensation package for endosulfan affected persons.

The government also appealed to the Prime Minister to approve the proposal for the  Department of Science & Technology to  jointly finance the expansion plan of the Start-up Village in Kochi.