CM bets on five reforms to cut red tape, speed up projects
SEEKING to cut bureaucratic delays that drain the state exchequer while shielding consumers from festive price shocks, the Kerala Cabinet on Wednesday unveiled a five-point administrative reform package alongside a slew of market intervention measures ahead of Onam.
Announcing the decisions after the Cabinet meeting, Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan said delays in project implementation were costing the government crores of rupees and that the reforms were aimed at improving governance, accelerating decision-making, and making Kerala more business-friendly.
At the heart of the reforms is the creation of a Special Asset Management Portal to digitally map all government-owned properties and a comprehensive asset register covering all government institutions.
The government will also launch Plan Space 2.0, a GIS-enabled project registry under which every capital project approved by departments will be geo-tagged and tracked in real time.
Around 2,000 projects will initially come under the monitoring system.
The Cabinet also decided to review and amend obsolete, unnecessary, and conflicting laws that often delay projects, while modernising regulations to improve the ease of doing business.
An Empowered Committee of Secretaries will coordinate implementation across departments.
The Chief Minister said the state currently has 591 government institutions with an annual salary outgo of nearly Rs 19,000 crore, adding that institutions with overlapping functions would be rationalised.
With Onam just weeks away, the Cabinet also approved an extensive market intervention programme to curb inflation and ensure the availability of essential commodities.
More than one lakh free Onam kits, each containing 16 essential items worth Rs 854, will be distributed to yellow ration card holders and inmates of welfare institutions between August 10 and 20.
Funds for the programme have already been sanctioned.
To stabilise rice prices, the government will release 1,65,932 metric tonnes of rice and 24,506 metric tonnes of wheat into the market.
As a special festive benefit, non-priority blue ration card holders will receive three kilograms of rice at Rs 10.90 per kg and two kilograms of wheat at Rs 8.70 per kg.
Mega Onam Trade Fairs will be held in Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, and Kozhikode from August 8 to 25, while district fairs in the remaining 11 districts and Onam markets in all Assembly constituencies will supplement the market intervention.
The Chief Minister said the government had allocated Rs 448 crore to the Food and Civil Supplies Department during its first two months in office, including Rs 273 crore for market intervention, Rs 154 crore as paddy procurement bonus and Rs 20 crore towards transportation charges, asserting that the government would remain vigilant to prevent any spike in essential commodity prices during the festive season.
