The State government is moving ahead with steps to enact a legislation to mitigate the rising man-animal conflict in Kerala and a draft Bill is under consideration by the Law department, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.
The Chief Minister announced this during a meeting of MPs held at the Thiruvananthapuram Government Guest House here on Friday, ahead of the monsoon session of the Parliament.
The meeting also decided to take a united stand to get ₹2,221.1 crore for Meppadi and ₹98.10 crore for Vilangad in Kozhikode district, as per the Post-Disaster Need Assessment submitted to the Union government in connection with the rehabilitation of people of the landslide-hit Mundakkai-Chooralmala in Wayanad. The meeting also stressed the need to put up a joint intervention to restore Section 13 removed from the National Disaster Management Act.
Similarly, the meeting decided to request an immediate amendment to the law that empowers State governments to provide relief in the matters stipulated in Section 11 of the Wildlife Protection Act, taking into account the local needs.
Rail development
The Chief Minister had earlier submitted a detailed memorandum regarding rail development in the State to the Union Railway Minister. As a follow-up to the memorandum, the Chief Minister requested the MPs to bring projects like the Thalassery-Wayanad-Mysuru rail line, Nilambur-Nanjangud rail project, Kanhangad-Panathur-Kaniyur railway line, Angamaly-Erumely-Sabari railway line, and the allocation of funds for the extension of the Kochi Metro from SN Junction to Thripunithura Metro Station to the attention of the Union government.
Financial issues
The meeting decided to make necessary interventions in financial issues such as cutting the borrowing limit of the State as per the provisions of the Guarantee Redemption Fund, cutting the Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) by ₹965 crore, raising the State’s borrowing limit to 3.5%, exempting loans taken by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) and Pension Company from the borrowing limit etc. The meeting also agreed to take steps to seek timely Central support in providing viability gap funds for setting up logistics parks and completing connectivity infrastructure.
The delay in allocating the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Kerala, the demand to convert the post of Accredited Social Health Activists as health workers, maintaining the Brahmos project in the State, providing a ‘point of call’ status for foreign airlines to operate services from the Kannur airport, development of national highways in the State, upgrading the waterway from Kottapuram to Kozhikode, which has been declared as an extension of National Waterway-3, to national standards and the construction of seawalls for coastal protection were also discussed in the meeting.
Along with the construction of a seawall, action should be taken on the various proposals submitted to the Union government to protect the lives and property of fishers on the Kerala coast.
The meeting decided to jointly coordinate steps to be taken in allocating more food grains to the State under the tide-over allocation. The meeting also decided to register the State’s protest against the proposed Indo-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and tasked the Chief Minister to send a letter to the Prime Minister in this regard.
Published – July 04, 2025 08:49 pm IST
