E-district initiative to cover entire state

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State Government will include 12 more districts to the e-district initiative as part of the National e-governance Plan, which proposes to deliver around 50 services online at the district-level for citizens. Presently, the project covers Kannur and Palakkad.Addressing mediapersons after the conclusion of the two-day annual conference of District Collectors and department heads here on Tuesday, Revenue Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan said that the meeting decided to computerise all the panchayats under the Mission Mode Project (MMP) and renovate Revenue offices in all districts.He said that the meeting had also decided to levy 10 per cent of rocks from each quarry to be supplied free to the  underprivileged for constructing houses. ‘’A one-year programme to extend the present insurance cover to the poor will be carried out.  The District Collectors have also been asked to look into the complaints on discrepancies in land rates arising during the government evaluation and to settle them,’’ he said.The meeting also decided to converge the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MNREGP) funds with the funds from other sources for creation of durable assets and emphasised on the procurement of material component.  ‘’The outlay for the MNREGP has been increased from Rs 700 crore to Rs 1,500 crore,’’ he said.With the UDF Government completing 100 days on September 30, it would give away keys of 2,552 houses built under the free housing scheme and one acre of land each to 789 persons. 16,000 title deeds will also be distributed, the minister said.