Seer defends iftar party in temple, says 'didn't hurt sentiments'

Kochi/Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 7: The Managing Director of Muthoot Finance company was injured after miscreants allegedly pelted his car with stones here on Tuesday morning following which one person was reportedly taken into custody.

George Alexander Muthoot, who suffered head injury has been admitted to a private hospital, police said.

A section of employees have been agitating against the Muthoot management over dismissal of 160 staff from the company's 43 branches across the state in December.

The protest is being held under the aegis of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU).

While the Muthoot management alleged that "CITU goons" were behind the attack that occurred at around 9 am in front of IG office here, the union leaders have maintained that they have no role in the incident.

Reacting to the incident, Labour Minister T P Ramakrishnan said he does not think any of the Muthoot employees were behind the attack.

"The employees were protesting peacefully. Violence is not part of their protest. Even now, in today's incident, I don't think any of the Muthoot employees attacked the MD.

However, it was the management of the company which had always provoked them by not implementing the decisions taken at conciliatory meetings," the Minister said.

If the management was prepared to change its stance, all the issues would be resolved, he said.

CITU leader Ananthavattom Anandan told reporters that they do not believe in such type of violent mode of agitation.

An official of the Confederation of Indian Industries Kerala chapter condemned the incident, saying "it is a matter of great concern".

Well known businessman and founder chairman and CEO of V-Guard Industries, Kochouseph Chittilappilly condemned the attack and said it was unfortunate that such incidents still continue in the state.

“Earlier also such incidents have taken palace. It's highly condemnable. The union leaders will now claim that the incident took place without their knowledge. But without the backing of union, such incidents will never happen,” he said.

Kerala-headquartered Muthoot Finance is the largest gold financing company in India.

Mangaluru, May 23: Two more persons tested positive for covid-19 in Dakshina Kannada today taking the district's tally to 65.

One among them is a 30-year-old man who had returned from Maharashtra and was under quarantine. He underwent test at a private lab and was tested positive.

The other one is a 41-year-old woman who is a resident of Shirlalu in Beltangady and had symptoms of influenza-like illness. 

She was urged by residents in the surroundings of her house to go for a test. She was shifted to Wenlock COVID hospital in the morning on Saturday.

Mangaluru, July 14: In order to detect COVID-19 cases quickly in Dakshina Kannada, the government has commissioned a programme to administer rapid antigen tests.

The coastal district has already received 3,500 rapid antigen test kits, which can give results in 30 minutes, an official said, adding that tests will be conducted shortly and training is being imparted on the use of the kits.

The antigen tests will be conducted for emergency cases like delivery, surgery, persons with severe symptoms of Covid-19, multiple-organ failure and for those whose condition is critical. 

"If a symptomatic patient tests negative for Covid-19, then his throat swab sample would be sent for lab testing," the district health officer (DHO) said.

The rapid antigen tests is expected to help in increasing the number of tests and bring down the load of testing on labs, as antigen kits allow faster diagnosis.

It takes a minimum of eight hours to get the results via real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test. Antigen tests can provide results within half an hour.