Thiruvananthapuram, May 20: Kerala Chief Minister, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan has, in a letter to the Union Minister of State for Power, Shri R K Singh, expressed the concern of the State regarding the Electricity Amendment Bill 2020.
Briefing the media, the Chief Minister said, “If the Electricity Amendment Bill 2020 comes into force, the state will not be able to continue the various subsidies being given to consumers through KSEB. The central government will have the authority to decide on the use of non-conventional sources of energy and also appoint the representatives to the State Electricity Regulatory Commission.”
“As per the new law, the Distribution Licensee will be able to appoint franchisees in the State without the permission of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission. The provisions of the Bill would give more Centralised control on a subject that is in the concurrent list. Therefore I have asked the central government to have more consultations with the State on this subject”, he added.
It may be noted that electricity is a concurrent subject at Entry 38 in List III of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. In Kerala, KSEB Ltd, a public sector undertaking under the Government of Kerala is responsible for generation, transmission and distribution of the electricity supply within the state.
2,948 additional temporary posts in Health Department to tackle Covid-19
Chief Minister, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan today announced that as part of strengthening the Covid preventive measures in the State, 2,948 temporary posts have been created in the Health Department through the National Health Mission. This is in addition to the 3,770 posts announced earlier as part of the Covid defence initiatives.
The Health Department has so far created around 6,700 temporary posts. These additional posts were created in view of the large number of Malayalees arriving in Kerala from other States and countries abroad. These temporary appointees will be deployed in the first line Care Centres, Covid Care Centers and Covid Hospitals.
The additional temporary posts are in 21 categories/designations including 38 doctors, 15 specialists, 20 dental surgeons, 72 staff nurses, 169 nursing assistants, 1,259 Junior Health Inspectors, 741 Junior Public Health Nurses and 358 cleaning staff.
Minister of Health & Social Justice, Smt K K Shailaja Teacher; Revenue Minister, Shri E Chandrasekharan, and Chief Secretary, Shri Tom Jose IAS were also present during the media briefing.