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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, June 11

THE State Government has extended in-principle approval to 40 industrial projects involving a total investment of Rs 6,846 crore. The list includes some of the proposals put up during the Global Investors Meet in Kochi earlier this year.

Announcing the decisions finalised during a routine meeting of the Cabinet of the Council of Ministers here, the Chief Minister, Mr M.A.K. Antony, told newspersons that the specially constituted Investment Promotion Board had recommended these projects to the Cabinet for expedited action.

Among the major projects that have been cleared are the Kochi Refineries (KRL) expansion programme (Rs 2,600 crore) and the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) project (Rs 1,850 crore).

In another development, the State Government decided to accord Special Economic Zone status to the Kochi-Vallarpadam container terminal. This would mean that investors stand to benefit from attractive incentives on offer for putting their money within the SEZ area.

The State Government has approved a consultant for implementing the long pending Rs 1,800-crore water supply scheme being funded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).

The Chief Minister said the Cabinet arrived at a consensus on Tokyo Engineering Consultancy as the agency to be referred to the JBIC for approval as the consultant. Mired in controversies from time to time, the massive drinking water supply project would benefit an estimated 4.5 million people in Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Cherthala (Alappuzha district) and Pattuvam (Kannur district). Benefits restored: In another decision, the State Government restored, even if partially, a slew of benefits taken away from the purview of the over five-lakh employees in a much-publicised belt-tightening exercise implemented from the beginning of the last year.

The measure had invited the wrath of the employee unions who launched themselves on a month-long agitation bringing the administrative machinery to a grinding halt. The strike was called off after the Government extended an assurance that it would consider restoration of the benefits once its finances improved.

Giving the salient features of the restoration exercise, the Chief Minister said the annual leave surrender would be partially restored, which would mean an additional burden of Rs 50 crore to Rs 75 crore to the Exchequer.

Encashment of leave of up to 10 days would now be allowed, which compares with the 20 days available prior to the withdrawal of the facility last year. Newly appointed employees in the Government would be entitled to full salary with effect from June this year. The extant order, effective from January 16 last, had prescribed that the new recruits would work as trainees for a period of two years, during which they would be entitled to their basic salaries only. Reversal of this decision would incur additional expenditure of Rs 36 crore.

In the case of teachers in Government-aided schools, there would not be any change in the cut-off date for being accorded "protection" status vis-à-vis their appointments in the event of a fall in the student-teacher ratio. All teachers appointed before July 14, 1994, would get protection benefits. According to the Chief Minister, the curtailed benefits of even retired employees would be partially restored.

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SEZ status for Kochi-Vallarpadam container terminal — Cabinet clears 40 projects worth Rs 6,846 crore

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