Three years after 'no more' report, parents still wait for their missing son

[email protected] (CD Network)
June 13, 2012

Kasargod, June 13: More than three years after the mysterious disappearance of a Kasargod based sailor on board a merchant vessel, a committee has been formed to press the authorities to launch a high level enquiry into issue.

A meeting held here on Tuesday has decided to formally commence their struggle demanding justice for the parents of Pradeep Raj (26) – who allegedly jumped off the Panama-registered MV El Eltanin, which was sailing towards China from the United States three years ago– on June 23 through a public meeting.

raj

Pradeep Raj

Continued wait

The poor elderly couple- Nagesha Chettiyar and his wife- are under shock since last three years, have been running from pillar to post to find out what happened to their bread winner son.

They have been knocking on all possible doors - right from those of their local legislator to those of senior ministers in the state and the central government - and have also written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for help.

Residing in a small house at Kudlu near here, they are shedding tears quietly recalling their last telephone conversations with Raj. “He had called us on April 6, 2009 just before the ship set sail from Panama to China with a 22-member crew that included 13 Indians. He again called us, and also his sister who lives in Dubai, when the ship reached Hawaii on April 24. He sounded very cheerful. He was planning to do a course to become a Fifth Engineer. He was a brilliant student who passed his diploma course (mechanical) with distinction,” recalls Chettiyar.

parents

Grief stricken parents of Pradeep Raj

A few days later, i.e. on May 2 and 3, they received two telegrams from his recruiting agency, Mumbai-based Marlow Navigation India Pvt Ltd, saying that Raj is missing. Subsequently, in the last week of June in the same year, they received a report saying that Pradeep is no more.

“The report is vague. It says Pradeep jumped into the water. It says there are no witnesses,” says a grief-stricken Chettiyar couple who are not ready to believe that their son is dead.

Though the couple have requested the Shipping Minister and Overseas Indian Affairs Minister, among others, to take the initiative to find the whereabouts of their son, there has been no breakthrough in the case so far.

“I was informed that the government had asked the company to re-investigate the matter. However, our wait has still continued,” Chettiyar said. “Because of the anxiety, we don't get sleep at night. My wife is suffering from stress and is taking sleeping pills.”


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Business Desk
June 2,2020

The covid-19 lockdown has thrown wedding plans in disarray in coastal Karnataka like all other activities involving a crowd of people. While many people chose to postpone the scheduled and about to be scheduled weddings, some are going ahead with scheduled plans and holding weddings with no more than 50 guests as per the guidelines issued by the government of Karnataka. 

The government may relax the norms and allow participation of more guests in the future. However, holding wedding ceremonies will be a new challenge when people are returning to a ‘new normalcy.’ Compared to the traditional wedding ceremonies of the region, marriages in the time of Covid-19 are expected to be smaller as the organizers have to adhere to the safety protocol and safe distancing norms. Given this situation, to limit risks and ensure safety, families now will have to consider wedding planners to help them celebrate their weddings.

“The postponed weddings will take place in the coming days as the lockdown is being relaxed in a phased manner. However, it won’t be like our traditional weddings. There won’t be 3000 guests.  Government directives will be have followed. We expect change in trend from big fat weddings to a small, close family, picture perfect weddings,” says Sartaj Beary, Managing Partner, Zawaj Weddings and Events.

“Our curetted packages will take care of wedding invitations, outdoor venue, premium catering, bridal make up, mehendi function, photography, videography, décor, thermal scanning systems, hand sanitizers and N 95 masks etc. We hope with our experiences we can offer stress free celebration to the families while we plan everything from scratch as per client requirement,” he assures.

“Ultimately, our society has to adopt an innovative way of marriage. At this point, we can say that any wedding in 2020 will look different as the novel coronavirus has disrupted the weddings everywhere. We know it is a big milestone for families and we at Zawaj are here to assure families that we can help a stress free wedding,” he adds.

New Normal Era Weddings

In the ‘new normal era’, weddings across the world will be totally different from what we used to see before the pandemic. People need to be cautious while attending mass gathering and it is important. Gone are the days of closed AC venues. Outdoor weddings will be the future, where seating are spread out and space between tables, stage, food counters will be maximum as per  safe distancing protocols. 

Wedding planners and caterers will have to ensure systematic safety protocol, safe and responsible operations, preparation of the food, event crew and vendors safe zone, sanitized kitchen, transportations. Even buffet settings will change to include smaller but multiple cuisines, self serving stations, markings on line to maintaining safe distance at the food counters.

More importantly, venue has to be prepared as per the government instructions. Things like disinfection and sanitization, hygiene, ample toilet facilities, hand wash, thermometer scans, masks, sanitizing stations should be taken care of. People from all walks of life will embrace this form of marriage. The services of wedding planners will be most opted in future.

CONTACT:

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News Network
May 12,2020

Bengaluru, May 12: The South Western Railway on Tuesday informed that a 'Shramik special train' has left Karnataka for Bihar carrying 1,428 migrants onboard.

The special train carrying migrants to Motihari, Bihar departed from Kabaka Puttur in Karnataka.

Passengers were observing social distancing norms during boarding.

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had recently granted permission for movement of stranded citizens including migrants labourers, workers, students, tourists to return to their native towns.

As per the list provided by the Karnataka government, South Western Railway is arranging special trains. These special trains are being run from point to point with no stoppages en-route.

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News Network
March 2,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 2: The Karnataka Department of Public Instruction has directed the School heads across the State to grant leave to students and staff suffering from fever, cold, cough and other respiratory infections.

As precautionary measure following the COVID-19 (known as coronavirus) outbreak at the global level, the department issued a circular in this regard here on Monday.

If any student, teacher or staff is suffering from respiratory infections, they should be granted leave. They should be allowed to come back to school only after confirming from the doctor that they are cured, the circular added.

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