Thiruvananthapuram | Keralam Chief Minister V D Satheesan on Wednesday announced a new administrative mechanism to enhance the credibility of budget announcements and improve project implementation and performance.
As part of the new system, round-table conferences will be held from September 16 to 18, with the projects divided into different clusters.
Satheesan said this was the first time such a mechanism was being implemented in the state.
The revised budget provides for 73 projects covering more than 40 departments. Of these, 63 are inter-departmental projects requiring the cooperation of more than one department, while the remaining 10 are being implemented by individual departments, he said.
The government aims to prevent delays arising from a lack of coordination among departments, the CM said.
A Detailed Project Report will be prepared for each project. At present, 34 projects have been identified for discussion under six clusters, and a knowledge partner has been selected for the exercise.
The scope of each project, strategic objectives, key components, implementation model and financial model, among other aspects, will be finalised at the round-table conferences, he said.
The discussions will involve think tanks, policy experts, academic, research and technological institutions, multilateral development partners, financial institutions, investors, industry associations, startups and representatives from other sectors.
The terms of reference for the projects have been prepared, Satheesan said.
The CM was speaking after the weekly Cabinet meeting, at which several other decisions were also taken.
The Cabinet decided to constitute a panel of senior advocates to represent the state in cases before the Supreme Court.
Following the Supreme Court's directions, the retirement age of district judicial officers in the state has been raised to 62 years.
The Cabinet decided to appoint retired High Court judge Justice C Pradeep Kumar as Ombudsman for Local Self-Government Institutions.
It further decided to provide Rs 5 lakh from the Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund to a Kozhikode woman who was assaulted in the ICU of the government medical college in 2023, Satheesan added.
