Thiruvananthapuram: In a special gesture, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday attended a meeting of the Kerala cabinet where Congress-led UDF Government raised their concerns over implementation of the Western Ghats conservation report and payment of subsidy on household LPG connections.
After the meeting at Raj Bhavan, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy submitted a 12-point memorandum to Singh and sought his intervention in getting clearances of some of the pending development projects of the state.
The Cabinet shared its concerns over implementation of the Western Ghats conservation report in its present form and also sought six months time for implementation of direct payment of subsidy on household LPG connections.
On a three-day visit to Kerala, which began last evening, Singh launched the state's total e-literacy programme and laid the foundation stone for the Global Learning Centre of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in the state capital. He left for Kochi in the afternoon, where he dedicated to the nation the LNG terminal at Puthuvaipeen.
Government sources said Singh assured that the State's views would be heard before implementing the K. Kasturirangan report on the Western Ghats. The state, which holds that implementation of the report could affect large sections of settlers in the high range areas, wants the Centre to correct flaws in identification of Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESAs) through the remote sensing method.
Instead, it suggested identification of ESAs based on physical verification and taking into account actual habitation and agricultural areas to be deleted from ESA.
Launching the total e-litercy drive, Singh said the campaign being taken up by Kerala could be a model for the whole country as reducing the digital divide was vital to improving the lives of the common people.
Laying the foundation stone of TCS's Global Learning Centre at Technopark here, Singh said the Centre is committed to providing an enabling environment to encourage further growth in this field. The Prime Minister also unveiled a plaque to mark the setting up of the Capital Centre of the Central University of Kerala at a function at the Raj Bhavan.
