Thiruvananthapuram: The cabinet on Wednesday approved a series of digital governance reforms aimed at improving project implementation, reducing delays and preventing financial losses.Addressing a post-cabinet news conference, chief minister V D Satheesan said the cabinet has cleared five major reforms: A digital asset management platform, an upgraded project monitoring system called Planspace 2.0, a registry of govt institutions, a review of outdated laws and the simplification of govt procedures.The asset management platform will contain details of all govt-owned assets, including land, buildings, heritage structures, roads, bridges, vehicles, and machinery.Planspace 2.0 will digitally monitor capital projects undertaken by all departments through geo-tagging and GIS mapping. Around 2,000 projects are currently tracked under the existing system, but the upgraded version will include additional information such as location coordinates, funding sources, and other project details.The govt will also prepare a digital registry of its 591 institutions. Satheesan said the state spends around Rs 19,000 crore annually on salaries alone in these institutions, and the registry would help identify obsolete or overlapping organizations for possible mergers or restructuring.The cabinet also approved a review of outdated and conflicting laws that delay project implementation. As part of a wider effort to streamline administration, procedures in departments such as finance, law, taxes, industries, revenue and local self-govt will be simplified by removing unnecessary inspections, approvals and paper-based processes.To improve implementation of priority projects and inter-departmental coordination, the cabinet approved the formation of an empowered committee of secretaries.Among other decisions, the cabinet approved the transfer of the remaining 90 acres required by the Defence Research and Development Organisation for the BrahMos Aerospace project in Thiruvananthapuram and increased Keltron’s authorised share capital from Rs 35 crore to Rs 60 crore.The cabinet also sanctioned Rs 448 crore for Onam preparations, including Rs 273 crore for market intervention and Rs 154 crore as paddy procurement bonus. More than six lakh free Onam kits containing 16 essential items will be distributed to yellow ration card holders and inmates of welfare institutions between Aug 10 and 20. He added that the first instalment of funds to local bodies would be released soon.
