Govt sets up Nava Kerala Nidhi

The Left Democratic Front Government has set up a new fund, Nava Kerala Nidhi, to source financial contributions and sponsorships from voluntary agencies, institutions and the general public for supplementing the allocations made for various mission mode projects and other identified development works, rehabilitation schemes and skilling agencies.

Currently, the State has major mission mode projects such as LIFE Mission and Haritha Keralam. But Nava Kerala Nidhi, which will be under the administrative control of the Finance Department, will also fund drinking water, sanitation and power schemes meant for the weaker sections, heritage schemes aimed at restoring art and cultural landmarks to name a few.

The fund will be managed by a permanent coordination committee with the Chief Secretary as chairman and the Finance Principal Secretary as convenor/treasurer. The Secretaries of Local Self Government, Health and Education will be the other members.

The Chief Secretary has been given financial powers to sanction financial aid up to ₹10 crore. The Chief Minister will be the sanctioning authority for amounts above ₹10 crore.

The government order issued in this regard, however, does not have the guidelines for selecting the projects for funding.

The contributions will be deposited in a savings bank account of the Principal Secretary (Finance) in the SBI Main branch and another Treasury Savings Bank account in the Thiruvananthapuram District Treasury.

The coordination committee would meet every year to review the functioning of the fund and approve its accounts, the GO said.