The Kerala Government will seek the services of the Chairman of the National Innovation Council, Mr Sam Pitroda, as the Chief Mentor for its development planning efforts.

This was announced by the Chief Minister, Mr Oommen Chandy, who clarified that the position would be in an honorary capacity.

At a meeting the State Cabinet had approved the proposal, the Chief Minister told newspersons here.

Discussions on this with Mr Pitroda have been going on for sometime, but the decision was consummated when both met in Mumbai recently. The Chief Minister said that Mr Pitroda would soon visit the State to familiarise himself with the development programmes of the State Government.

In another decision, the Cabinet finalised a strategy aimed at controlling the prices of vegetables of daily use in the State.

The ConsumerFed will open 400 fair-price special vegetable outlets across the State. Another 200 such shops would be jointly operated by the State Horticulture Development Corporation, Vegetable and Fruit Promotion Council-Keralam and the State Civil Supplies Corporation.

These vends would sell 10 items of vegetables that is, tomato, bittergourd, snakegourd, carrot and onion, which are invariably the first to experience a flare up in prices in the open market.

The State Cabinet also decided to move expeditiously on the acquisition of land for the proposed hardware park at Amballoor in Ernakulam district.

The District Collector is being asked to acquire up to 334 acres for the purpose, the Chief Minister said. The park would come under the auspices of the Department of Information Technology.

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