Special cabinet meet today
PM to attend meet; LPG, Vizhinjam & Ghats report to be discussed.
Thiruvananthapuram: A special cabinet meeting will be held in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Raj Bhavan at 9.20 a.m. on Saturday to discuss burning issues like LPG subsidy, Kasturirangan report and other pending issues with the centre.
The Prime Minister arrived here on a three-day visit to the state on Friday evening. The government will also request the Prime Minister to exempt Vizhinjam port from cabotage law.
Other issues to be raised include establishment of an IIT, a long- pending demand of the state, and the centre’s nod for starting ‘Air Kerala’ in view of the high air fares on the Gulf sector, speeding up of the railway coach wagon factory at Palakkad and Cherthala and a financial package for debt-ridden states.
The state has been struggling to raise resources because of the huge financial commitment of salaries and pension. Expediting the work on NH bypass in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha, Kozhikode, Thalassery and Kannur, upgrading Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) as an Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST) will also be raised.
Other issues likely to figure at the meeting are raising the quantity of gold allowed to be brought by NRKs, IT exemption for interest income earned by Labour Welfare Fund Boards and central assistance for medical college in Palakkad.