Science institute for Kerala soon

Thiruvananthapuram: An Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) will soon be set up in Kerala.

Disclosing this in the State Assembly yesterday, Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said the Union Government had already given the nod in this regard.

The IISER would come up here and the District Collector and the Higher Education Secretary had been asked to identify suitable land for the purpose, he said.

The chief minister was replying to a calling attention motion by G. Karthikeyan of the Congress on the hurdles in establishing the IISER, IIT and in upgrading the status of the medical college here to that of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

The Centre had sanctioned Rs1 billion (about Dh83 million) for developing the medical college and the State Government was in the process of preparing development projects. Efforts would continue to upgrade the status of the medical college, he said.

11 SEZs for state

Meanwhile, 11 Special Economic Zones (SEZs) had been sanctioned in the state, Achuthanandan informed the state assembly yesterday.

They would enjoy concessions like exemption in civic taxes and electricity tax prescribed by the SEZs Act. Besides, the State would provide them with basic requirements like electricity and water.

Most of these, sanctioned under the SEZs Act 2005, are promoted by public sector facilitators like Kinfra, Technopark and Cochin Port Trust, he said in a reply furnished in the House.