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Our Bureau

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 26 The Kerala Government has no plans to raise the retirement age of the Government employees, according to the Chief Minister, Mr V.S. Achuthanandan.

Replying to questions in the State Assembly on Thursday, the Chief Minister said that no discussions had been held in this regard. Though the Chairman of the 13th Finance Commission, Mr Vijay Kelkar, had suggested that by raising the retirement age, the Government could defer the financial commitment for paying the retirement benefits to the employees, the existing system would not be altered, he said.

In reply to another question, the Chief Minister said that the heads of government departments and public sector undertakings were recruiting employees on daily wages and contract basis. Such employees would be terminated from service once the Public Service Commission filled up the vacancies.

The Government had no plans to increase the validity period of the PSC rank-list, he added.

The Minister for Forests, Mr Benoy Viswam, told the House that the Government had submitted to the Centre a proposal for setting up a forest academy for coordinating the training programmes conducted by the Forest Department.

The Minister said that 31 species had been included in the list of birds facing the threat of extinction. A regional survey had found four new species of birds in Peechi, two in Periyar, seven in Cheruthoni and one each in Silent Valley, Peppara and Aaralam.

In reply to a question, Mr Viswam said that 1,894.35 hectares of forest had been destroyed in wild fires till February 15 and the Government had allocated Rs 7.73 crore in the current year to check wild fires. The Government would also consider a proposal to close down wildlife sanctuaries during the summer to avert forest fires.

The Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, Mr C. Divakaran, said that the Government had sought the Centre’s permission to sell ‘atta’ through the outlets of the Civil Supplies Corporation.

More Stories on : Human Resources | Kerala

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