Kerala to implement insurance for rural landless, homeless

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 22 (UNI) The Kerala government has decided to implement the 'Aam Admi Bima Yojana,' an insurance scheme for the rural landless and homeless in the state.

Addressing mediapersons after a cabinet meeting, Chief Minister V S Achutanandan today said nearly 6.5 lakh people in the state would be benefitted.

The cabinet had decided to pay the premium of Rs 100 per family to the Life Insurance Corporation of India, which is implementing the scheme. Another decision taken was to give approval to the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation to avail Rs 75 crore loan from the LIC for purchasing 1,000 new buses, he said.

On the Chengara land issue, where the adivasis were agitating for land, Mr Achutanandan said the government could not accept the demand of five acres of land and Rs five lakh.

''A drive is going on for recovering government land illegally possessed by individuals and others. Once the process is complete, all the landless will get at least ten cents of land in two or three months.'' The agitators had been asked to file applications for getting land, he said, adding that they were not willing to agree to this proposal.

He denied reports that the adivasis who had raised temporary shelters in the Harrison Malayalam plantations in Chengara were being harassed.

''The Kerala High Court had directed to rehabilitate the adivasis to other locations. No police force is being used to evacuate them from the land, he said.

On the agitation led by him in Delhi, Mr Achutanandan said the stir would have its results.

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