Reforms with focus on zero corruption are on the anvil to ensure ease of doing business and provide a hospitable environment for investment in the State, Governor P. Sathasivam said in his address to the fourth session of the 14 Kerala Assembly here on Thursday. The government had devised a unique strategy to attract investment for infrastructure development through the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Board (KIIFB).

The first round of campaign to attract investment from NoRKs and NRIs and foreign governments was held in the Middle East.

The Governor said the government was confident that projects worth Rs. 10,000 crore would be cleared by the KIIFB before March 2017. The first batch of tenders for projects was expected to go live in April.

The technical and IT infrastructure needed for supporting infrastructural planning, design and execution was being put in place.

The present government could rescue several vital projects from red tapism, he said. Critical infrastructure projects like the acquisition of land and expansion of NH, GAIL pipeline, Kochi Edamon power highway, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode international airport works, and Smart City had been put back for fast completion, the Governor said.

Deputy Commissioner K.G. Jagadeesha on Monday directed urban local bodies and taluk administrations to open round-the-clock helpline service in their jurisdiction to attend to drinking water problems immediately.

Presiding over a meeting on addressing drinking water requirements during the summer here, Mr. Jagadeesha said that complaints about drinking water should be solved within 24 hours.

If, for any reason, people resort to protests for non-availability of drinking water, the officer concerned in the gram panchayat or the urban local body would be held responsible, he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Jagadeesha also directed officials concerned to completely stop fodder transportation either from Dakshina Kannada or through Dakshina Kannada to neighbouring Kerala in view of the severe drought. He asked officials to take up as many works as possible under employment guarantee scheme in Bantwal and Mangaluru taluks which have been declared drought-hit.

Zilla Panchayat Deputy Secretary N.R. Umesh said that though the government has lifted the blanket ban on sinking of borewells by individuals in Mangaluru, Bantwal, Belthangady and Sullia taluks, obtaining no objection certificate from the local body concerned is mandatory. Also, such borewells should not be within 500 m of any public drinking water source, he said.