Life Mission houses to get insurance cover of Rs 4 lakh each

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state cabinet has decided to introduce an insurance scheme for the houses constructed under the Life Mission project. Each house will have an insurance cover of Rs 4 lakh for a period of three years. The government will pay the premium for the first three years and subsequently the beneficiaries will have to bear the expenses for the premium. The government has decided to provide the insurance cover for 2,50,547 houses for which Rs 8.74 crore will be paid as the premium for the three years.

The government has also decided to take a loan of Rs1,500 crore from HUDCO for the construction houses in the third phase of the Life Mission.

KSRTC-Swift: The cabinet also gave its nod for forming KSRTC-Swift, a new and independent company. Initially, the new company will be using the facilities of the KSRTC. The company will be responsible for operating the new buses to be procured using KIIFB funds. It will also operate the buses running on long distance routes.

The company will also provide rehabilitation for the empanelled employees who were dismissed from service following a high court directive. The chairman and managing director of KSRTC will be the managing director of the new company. The cabinet also decided to allow motor vehicle owners to pay motor vehicle tax in instalments. The decision is expected to help those who are saddled with mounting arrears and are unable to make the payments due to the pandemic situation. The government has appointed former high court judge P S Gopinathan as the new ombudsman for local selfgovernments.

Pay revision: The cabinet has approved the pay revision of employees at Traco Cable Company, Kerala State Handicapped Persons Welfare Corporation Limited and Kerala State Financial Enterprises. The revised salaries will be paid with retrospective effect from August 2017 for KSFE employees.

New ordinances: The cabinet has also decided to request the governor to promulgate two ordinances: The Kerala Public Health Act and Kerala Medical Practitioners Act.

For enacting the Kerala Public Health Act, it has been decided to integrate Madras Public Health Act of 1939 and Travancore Cochin Public Health Act of 1955. Similarly, for the Kerala Medical Practitioners Act, Travancore Cochin Medical Practitioners Act of 1953 and Madras Medical Registration Act of 1914 will be integrated.

Another ordinance to amend Kerala Universities Act was also approved by the cabinet. Relief for IT companies: The government has decided to provide more reliefs for the IT companies in the wake of the pandemic situation. Companies with 25,000sq feet office space will not have to pay rent for up to10,000sq feet for three months from April in 2020.

The cabinet has also decided to set up a tribal taluk in Palakkad, with its headquarters in Attappadi.

Source: The Times of India