News and Views

Thiruvananthapuram: Heavy rain brought misery to people of Alappuzha, Kollam and Pathanamthitta districts on Sunday. One person died at Cheruthana. About 10000 persons have been shifted to relief camps.

Breach of dyke at Kuppappuram in Kuttanad flooded 340 acres of poulders and damaged about 200 houses. The poulders have been prepared for sowing, and influx of flood waters is estimated to have caused a loss of about Rs. 25 lakh. The flooded poulders belong to about 300 farmers.

Thiruvananthapuram:  Political factions in the Kerala unit of the Congress are continuing their pressure tactics to retain their grip on the party.

In this process, they ignore reasons for the party’s defeat in the Assembly elections and steps needed to redeem the party from the abyss it has fallen into.

The refusal of a local church at Kumarakom in Kottayam district of Kerala to permit burial of the grandmother of Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra in its cemetery has invited criticism from various quarters including a bishop of the Church.

The grandmother of the actress Mary John Akhouri’s wish was to be buried in her family tomb at St. John's Attamangalam church at Kumarakom where she was born and baptised. However, the parish refused to bury her body in the church cemetery on the ground that she had married a Hindu and lived as a Hindu.

Chief Minister Pinarai Vijayan said here on Thursday that financial position of the State was not confortable.

Addressing a ‘Meet the Press’ Programme organised by the Press Club here, the Chief Minister said that the State’s debt stood at Rs. 154000 crores according to figures furnished by Comptroller and Auditor General of India. The arrears in payment of welfare and other pensions came to about 2000 crores. The bills pending payment to contractors amounted to Rs. 3000 crores.

A major project proposal of converting plastic waste to fuel in order to improve the waste management infrastructure in Kochi city is stalled allegedly owing to the stubborn attitude of Kochi Corporation authorities.

Human Rights Defence Forum (HRDF) at Kochi, on the basis of information available through RTI, said that the proposal by Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) to set up a plant to convert plastic waste to energy was cold-shouldered by Kochi Corporation.