District panchayat president S. Jayamohan will on Wednesday lay the foundation stone for a rice mill to be set up by the Kollam district panchayat at Sooranad North panchayat. The rice mill is being set up as part of the efforts of the district panchayat to promote paddy cultivation in the district.
Mr. Jayamohan told media persons on Tuesday that as a result of the efforts taken by the district panchayat, the area under paddy cultivation in the district had gone up from 500 acres four years ago to 16,000 acres now. The aim was to increase it to 20,000 acres in one year. To achieve that, promotional activities like paddy procurement and processing were required.
He said that through the project a fair procurement price for paddy would be ensured. Procured paddy would be processed at the mill and marketed at a fair price.
He said that Sooranad North was chosen as the location to house the rice mill because that panchayat presently accounted for the highest paddy production in the district.
Mr. Jayamohan said that all children to be born in the government and private hospitals in district would be covered by the UNICEF-supported Swapna Chiraku scheme of the district panchayat.
Till 5 years
At present, only infants born at Government Victoria Hospital for Women and Children are covered by the scheme. Children, from the day they are born till they are five years old will be covered by the scheme.
Under the scheme, new born babies will be subjected to comprehensive medical examination to detect health problems and the required medical attention to correct them will be provided. All details of the child and parents will be fed into a computer system and a special card will be provided to the parents.
District panchayat secretary K. Anil Kumar said that the first phase of the Kuryotumala Hi-tech Dairy farm, near Puanlur, would be launched on Wednesday. This would comprise a calf satellite unit through which good breed calves would be procured, reared and distributed to farmers when they matured to heifers.
Children to be covered under Swapna Chiraku
Kuryotumala dairy farm to be inaugurated
