A meeting of the State Cabinet has decided to form a subcommittee to look into the demand for raising bus fares.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told newspersons here on Wednesday that the committee would subject autorickshaw and taxi fares also to scrutiny.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Members of the subcommittee are Transport Minister Aryadan Mohammed; Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan; Finance Minister K. M. Mani; and Industries Minister P. K. Kunhalikkutty.

Chandy said that the subcommittee would hold a round of discussions with bus operators on October 9.

Recommendations by the subcommittee would come up for discussion during the Cabinet meeting that follows, where a decision on them would be taken.

SUBSIDISED LPG

Separately, the Chief Minister also said that the State Government would come out with a package for supply of nine subsidised LPG cylinders to consumers.

This would be taken up approval by the ruling United Democratic Front coalition, before being escalated to the Cabinet for discussions.

The next meeting of the Cabinet to be held on October 9 will take a final call on extending subsidised LPG supplies to those outside the BPL category households.

The Cabinet on Wednesday also authorised local bodies to declare up to 10 per cent cut in building tax for those households which have commissioned biogas plants/pipe compost units in their backyards.

The respective local bodies can decide on the actual extent of the cut in tax, subject to a maximum of 10 per cent.

STUDENT LOANS

In another decision, the Cabinet decided that the State Government would take up payment of interest due on educational loans to BPL students dispensed between 2004 and 2009.

A nine-member committee of the Cabinet has been set up to decide on the modalities of this exercise, the Chief Minister said.

Bonus and pumping subsidy amounts for paddy farmers will be revised upwards. The Cabinet decided to allocate Rs 117.62 crore for the Ponnani-Kozhikode-Vengalam stretch of national highway.

PTI adds: The Cabinet decided to accept the High Court order to pay Rs 10-lakh compensation to former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan as damages for being falsely implicated in the ISRO espionage case of 1994.

“The amount as directed by the court will be paid soon,” Chandy said.

“The government will definitely examine the matter,” Chandy said when asked whether the government would initiate legal action against police officers who investigated the case and wrongly implicated the scientist in the case.

In a judicial relief that came after an 18-year-long wait, the High Court had on September 7 directed payment of Rs 10 lakh as compensation to Nambi Narayanan, who had played a key role in some of ISRO’s major projects, including development of cryogenic technology, within three weeks, upholding the 2001 NHRC decision which the State Government had challenged.

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