T.M. Thomas IsaacThiruvananthapuram: Finance minister T.M. Thomas Isaac said the Left Democratic Front government planned to make Kerala free of destitute people by building 1 lakh houses for the needy. The Kudumbasree will be roped in to conduct a survey to identify the needy and make sure that the houses went to the really impoverished, the minister said while presenting the government’s first complete budget on Friday.
Isaac offered 1 lakh houses to the homeless in the state in the next financial year. The government plans to launch a comprehensive housing scheme, which is expected to cost at least Rs 16,000 crore in five years.
The government has raised the social security pension to Rs 1,100. A unified list of persons drawing pensions will be drawn up. Anyone who was over 60 years of age and out of the income tax net would be eligible for pension.
However, the government will put in place checks to control a person enjoying multiple pensions.
Master plan for schools
A master plan is on the cards for the refurbishments of schools in the state, Isaac said. The government intends to draw Rs 500 crore from the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board, the minister said.
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The chaos in the higher secondary education will be cleared soon, he added.
Local self-government bodies will receive Rs 9,748 crore for the second phase of the People’s Plan. The government engineers will receive their salaries from the local bodies. A single attendance register will be introduced for all staff in the local bodies.
The minister also allocated Rs 1 crore for the rehabilitation of circus performers.
No takers for loans
The finance minister said Kerala’s economy was in dire straits. Thanks to the Union government’s demonetization drive. The banks had enough money to loan but no one wanted to borrow anymore, he said.
“The bank loans have risen by only 4.7 percent. We are yet to experience the adverse effects of the scrapping of the notes,” he said.
Isaac kicked off his budget speech with a reference to writer M.T. Vasudevan Nair’s comment that the demonetization drive was a “Tughlaq reform”. He said it was painful that the Union government was continuing with its conservative approach even in times of a financial crunch.
He said the central government was burying its hand in the sand. The explanations that followed the demonetization drive was neither satisfactory nor logical, he added.
