Thiruvananthapuram: The state cabinet Wednesday decided to acquire 100 acres of land for setting up an Electronic Hardware Park at Ambaloor in Ernakuam district.
"District Collector will initiate steps to buy land for this project in accordance with the guidelines issued for buying land for Kochi Metro project, based on negotiable purchase," Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told reporters here after a cabinet meeting.
Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation will be entrusted to secure approvals, which will be done by adhering to stipulations in the Conservation of Paddy and Wetland Law,Coastal Regulation Zone and Environment laws, he said.
It was decided to expedite steps for declaring Kerala as the first Digital State in the country, he added.
For completing the 'Digital Kerala' project in a time-bound manner, District Collectors, department heads and heads of Local Self-Government Bodies would be instructed to take necessary steps to give sanctions to service providers who have been allowed Right of Way (ROW) for laying optical fibre and for installing mobile towers in government premises and offices.
On other decisions, he said it has been decided to extend the contract period of project assistants and aqua culture coordinators associated with 'Matsya Samrudhi' project of the Fisheries department by three more months.
The decision comes in the wake of the project period concluding on March 31 next.
Their contract period has been extended after taking into account the harvesting and documentation activities as part of the project, he said.
It has also been decided to provide Rs 67.50 lakh for the purpose from the current fund for the project, he added.
The cabinet decided to give sanction to the Economic and Statistics Department to publish the Consumer Price Index of the State, which will be based on the 'new Linking Factor.
'Currently, the variable dearness allowance is being calculated on the basis of the Consumer Price Index published by taking 1998-99 as the base year.
Since this has become outdated, it was decided to publish the new index with 2011-12 as the base year, it was stated.