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Ockhi continues to batter Kerala; 2,700 evacuated from Ernakulam

News Network
December 2, 2017

Ernakulam, Dec 2: The coastal areas of Ernakulam district in Kerala on Saturday faced the wrath of raging sea in the wake of cyclone Ockhi. Nearly 2,700 people from 718 families were evacuated to seven shelters spread over five villages in Kochi taluk as on Saturday afternoon.

The first casualty in connection with the natural calamity was also reported from the district as 42-year-old Rexon was found dead near his inundated home at Maruvakkad in West Kochi’s Chellanam area on Saturday morning. After being moved to a shelter the previous evening, he had returned home in the morning to take stock of the situation. It is suspected that he had collapsed and died unnoticed since all families in the neighbourhood were in shelters.

Hundreds of families at Chellanam had to be evacuated overnight to safe shelters after unprecedented sea incursion flooded their homes and then breached the road nearby. There was no respite for the residents of Chellanam as an already rough sea turned worse during the time of high tide late on Friday evening.

“Big waves started lashing the shore around 8 p.m. and it continued till around 11 p.m. The sea turned relatively calm thereafter but again turned rough around 2 a.m. People belonging to older generation said that they had not seen anything similar during their lifetime,” said Milton Antony, a local resident.

The stretch between Maruvakkad Velankanni Church and Bazaar areas where the seawall had not been built was the worst-affected. “The receding waves have deposited black mud along the shoreline clearing, which would need extensive cleaning,” said A.X. Antony Sheelan, a former block panchayat president from the area.

He said with the increase in the depth of the harbour, areas up to 22 kilometres to its south had become susceptible to vagaries of sea rage as was seen in Chellanam and nearby areas now.

St. Francis Church Parish Hall in Kumbalanghi village, which shelters 200 families and 800 people, has the largest number of evacuees. Devi Vilasam LPS at Veliyathamparambu in Kumbalanghi has 156 families and 595 occupants; GHSS Puthenthodu in Chellanam village 139 families and 494 members; St. Mary’s HS in Chellanam village 130 families and 425 members; Government UPS, Edavanakkad 38 families and 164 members; Government Fisheries School, Nayarambalam, 40 families and 110 members; and St. George Church Parish Hall at Kumbalanghi village shelters 15 families and 60 members.

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Agencies
August 5,2020

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Ayodhya to lay the foundation of the Ram temple. He participated in the bhoomi poojan rituals at the temple site and offered prayers. He will shortly lay the foundation of the temple with a sliver brick.

From Varanasi to Tamil Nadu, many devotees have sent gifts for the ceremony, like silver bricks and coins.

Special prayers were started on Monday and will culminate with the PM laying the foundation stone for the temple. The city has been decorated with paintings depicting scenes from the Ramayana. The Uttar Pradesh government has also made elaborate security arrangement for the event.

Apart from the state police, the NSG commandos have also been kept on stand-by. The invitations for the ceremony have been kept limited due to the coronavirus pandemic. Veteran BJP leaders LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi will witness the event from New Delhi via video-conferencing.

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coastaldigest.com web desk
June 27,2020

New Delhi, June 27: The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led union government of India is not ready to stop all imports from aggressive China in spite of mount calls to boycott Chinese products in India.

The Centre is reportedly considering to stop only non-essential imports from the neighbouring country.

However, the Inward shipment in sectors such as automobiles, pharmaceuticals, certain electronics and others will continue until a domestic alternative is found.

“India will gradually move towards import substitution. It will not happen overnight. In the meantime, attention has to be paid on production and job creation. We cannot throttle our industry. There are certain absolutely essential imports. Needless to say, those will keep going,” official sources said.

Sources said that both the government and the industry are in the process of identifying products that can be domestically manufactured in the medium term. There are certain chemicals, automotive components, handicrafts, cosmetics, agriculture items and certain consumer electronics, which can be manufactured domestically in the short to medium term. The government is doing all it can to raise the capacity of domestic industries.

However, there are certain other imports in the automobile and the pharmaceutical sectors which cannot be done away within the short to medium term. Their domestic production at the moment may not be that cost-effective.

The six-crore strong traders’ body CAIT has been at the forefront of such a demand and has launched a campaign to celebrate Indian Diwali this year with a total absence of Chinese goods.

“Ease of doing business, capital availability at lower rates and globally competitive logistics and energy costs are some of the prerequisites that the government should look into to ensure the growth of the domestic auto component industry,” according to Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA) Director General Vinnie Mehta.

Maruti Suzuki Chairman R C Bhargava said, “People who are boycotting Chinese goods have to remember that in some cases it may lead to their being asked to pay more for the same product."

Meanwhile, domestic rating agency Acuite Ratings & Research has analysed the current import portfolio from China and found 40 sub-sectors have the potential to lower their import dependency on China. These sectors contribute to $33.6 billion worth of imports from China and about 25% of these imports can be substituted by local manufacturing without any significant additional investments.

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Agencies
August 8,2020

Kozhikode, Aug 8: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin of each passenger who died when an Air India Express flight veered off the runway while attempting to land at the Karipur International Airport here on August 7.

He was briefing the media after visiting the crash site at the airport and the injured at the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital.

Offering his condolences, the Chief Minister said, "Apart from the solatium for the victims, the state government would bear the treatment expenses of all those injured in this unfortunate plane crash irrespective of the hospitals they are in. The Civil Aviation Ministry and other Central Government agencies are expected to announce compensation for the air passengers. 

If any further assistance is required, the State Government will take an appropriate decision at that time to support them to get back to a normal life."

"However, the immediate task now is to ensure the best possible treatment for the survivors of the accident. The District Authority is coordinating the treatment of those rescued who are now in 16 hospitals across Kozhikode and Malappuram Districts," added Vijayan.

Of the 190 people on board the ill-fated plane, there were 184 passengers and six crew members. Of the 18 dead so far, 14 are adults (seven males and females each) and four are children. Both the Pilot and the Co-Pilot are among those dead. At present, 149 passengers are hospitalised, of them 23 with serious injuries. Till now, 23 passengers have been discharged. There are few passengers from Tamil Nadu and Telangana also.

All the dead have been identified, eight from Kozhikode district, six from Malappuram district and two from Palakkad district. The post mortem process has been expedited despite the Covid threat and is expected to finish before evening. All the accident victims will be tested for Covid including those who died in the crash. So far, only one victim has tested positive for coronavirus, the Chief Minister said.

He also appreciated the instant response by the local public living in the vicinity of the airport and also the local authorities to this tragedy which ensured the minimum loss of lives in a disaster of such large magnitude as a plane crash. The rescue operations were finished in the shortest possible time yesterday.

"Even though 18 precious lives have been lost due to the impact of the crash, the rescue operations were a miraculous work. The general public and the officials played a big role in spearheading the rescue operations," he said.

Vijayan along with Governor Arif Mohammad Khan reached Kozhikode this morning.

Governor Arif Mohammad Khan expressed his condolences and sympathies to the families of the accident victims and his best wishes for the speedy recovery of those injured.

The Chief Minister was accompanied by the Niyamasabha Speaker, P. Sreeramakrishnan; Minister for Industry E.P Jayarajan, Minister for Health and Social Justice, K K Shailaja; Minister for Agriculture V.S Sunilkumar; Minister for Ports Ramachandran Kadannappalli; Minister for Transport AK Saseendran, Minister for Excise T.P Ramakrishnan, Chief Secretary, Dr Vishwas Mehta; and State Police Chief, Loknath Behra, DGP. 

The Minister for Local Self Governments, A C Moideen and the Minister for Higher Education and Welfare of Minorities, Dr K T Jaleel were already present in Kozhikode.

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