'White elephants' swallowing money; Govt to bring comprehensive administrative reform through five-point plan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The cabinet meeting decided to eliminate institutions that are eating up money in the treasury without doing any particular work. There are 591 such government institutions. More than 19,000 crores are spent on paying their salaries. The state borrows 39,000 crores a year. Half of this is spent on their salaries. Cars, offices and other expenses follow.

Although there is no work, there are offices at the district and state levels. Institutions of the same nature will be merged, said Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan in a press conference.

The cabinet approved a five-point plan to restore financial discipline and efficiency. Including this, five reforms will be implemented under the leadership of the Public Administration Department. The main ones are the special asset management portal, Plan Space 2.0, formation of an asset register, elimination of outdated laws, and reform of business procedures. The share capital of Keltron will be increased from Rs 35 crore to Rs 60 crore. The Chief Minister will hold discussions with trade unions regarding the implementation of the Labour Code.

The institutions that are swallowing money include the Literacy Mission to Rebuild Kerala. Some officials receive salaries of up to 2.5 lakhs. Most of them have salaries of more than 1 lakh. There are many such institutions like AIDS Control Centre, Mediation and Conciliation Centre, NIRMITHI KENDRA, Book Mark, Social Welfare Board, Youth Leadership Academy, Vasthuvidya Gurukulam, Social Volunteer Force, Nava Kerala Mission, Ardram Mission, Vidyakiranam, Bhooviniyoga Board, Contract Labour Advisory Board, Self-Employment Development Centre, Multipurpose Cultural Centre and many more.

Five-point reform

1 A special asset management portal will be created to include all the details of government properties. Digital University will be entrusted with the task

2 Plan Space 2.0 is a project register. All capital projects approved by the departments will be geotagged in this. There will be a GIS-based project register. Tracking of about 2,000 existing projects will be done

3 A review and amendment of obsolete, unnecessary and contradictory laws will be implemented.

4 Reforms to facilitate business. Interaction with the government will be simplified to do business. Various departments will be coordinated. An empowered committee of secretaries will be formed

5 Elimination of wasteful institutions that swallow crores