Govt announces Rs 5 lakh compensation

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 19 (UNI) The Kerala government will provide Rs 5 lakh each to the families of eight Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) employees, who were killed and washed away in the penstock conduit pipe burst on September 17 at Vellathuval in Idukki district.

Briefing reporters on the decisions taken at a Cabinet meet today, Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan said the government would provide Rs 3 lakh and the remaining Rs 2 lakh would be provided by the KSEB.

The Cabinet also decided to take up immediate steps to rehabilitate those who had lost houses and agriculture lands in the incident.

Mr Achuthanandan said the government had appointed a special team under Mr Rajiv Sadanandan, IAS, to probe the incident in which four KSEB employes were killed and an equal number went missing.

The Cabinet also decided to open a ground school and appoint a Chief Flight Instructor and four ground instructors to reactivate the Rajiv Gandhi Aviation Academy, which remained closed for quite a long time here.

The government would urge the Centre to include fish like mackerel, sardine, skipjack in the protective list, he added.

UNI