Kochi, June 26 (IANS) The Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) Sunday decided to hike the monthly pension of its veteran members to Rs.4,000, an association official said.

 
 Speaking to IANS after the annual general meeting here, veteran character artiste and AMMA treasurer Jagdish said that not only have they decided to increase the monthly pension from Rs. 2,500 to Rs.4,000 but also decided to include 21 more members into this scheme.
 
 "With the addition of 21 more veteran artistes into the monthly 'kaineetam' (pension scheme) , the total number of our members who are included in this scheme has touched 81.  With the present funds, this scheme will go smoothly for another three years and by then we will have to think ways of putting more money into the fund. It could be either through the conduct of a show or even produce a film like we did the last time,” he said.
 
 All the leading stars including Mammootty, Mohanlal, Jayaram, Dileep and others were present in Sunday's meeting.
 
 Ace comedian Innocent is the president of AMMA and the next elections are due only next year.
 
 Actor-turned-minister K.B. Ganesh Kumar, who apart from holding the forest portfolio is also in-charge of the cinema industry, was also present at the meeting.
 
 "He has assured that the facilities of the only state-run full-fledged Chitranjali Film Studio would be beefed up and has said that all can look forward to changes in the manner in which it is being run. He also said that the state government has promised to tackle the issue of video piracy which is causing a huge dent to the film revenues. A special squad under a top police official would be set up soon and its powers would be widened,” said Jagdish.
 
 AMMA requested Ganesh Kumar to identify some land either in Kochi or in the state capital to build their permanent headquarters.
 
 "The minister said that he will take up this issue with the government and also assured that a housing scheme for the film industry would also be taken up," added Jagdish.
 
 Another decision taken at Sunday's meeting was to donate Rs. 1 lakh each to five institutions as part of their initiative in charity.