The Hindu : Briefly

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 31, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Briefly

Year-end accounting

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM MARCH 30. Medical stores, supermarkets, sub-depots, supermarket godowns and Labham Stores of the Civil Supplies Corporation will remain closed tomorrow on account of year-end accounting. The Maveli Stores will remain closed on March 31 and April 1.The LPG distribution centres will not function after 2 p.m. and petrol bunks after 4 p.m. tomorrow.

Privilege cards

Privilege card facility is to be introduced in the Supplyco supermarkets and Labham Markets in the first week of April. The card will be given free of cost to those who make purchases for Rs.500 and above. Others will have to pay Rs.5 for the card. The cardholders will get a discount of two per cent for every purchase.

Takes charge

N. Krishna Mohan has taken charge as the Regional Director of the Reserve Bank of India for Kerala and Lakshadweep. Prior to this appointment, he was with the Department of Banking Operations in the central office in Mumbai.

Free ration for plantation workers

Two-week free ration has been announced for the plantation workers of Thiruvananthapuram and Wayanad districts. Each family of the workers of plantations that are remaining closed would get 10 kg of rice a week. The rice will be supplied by the Food and Civil Supplies Department and the beneficiaries will be selected by the District Collectors in consultation with the Labour Department.

Sale of toddy shops

The Government proposes to put up the toddy shops the licences of which are not renewed by March 31 for sale on April 15. The sale would be conducted by the Excise Division offices concerned.

Loan for CAPE

The Government has given the go ahead to the Ernakulam District Cooperative Bank to provide a loan of Rs. 80 crores to the Cooperative Academy of Professional Education (CAPE). The loan would be given by pledging the 60 acres of land of the academy to the bank. Even though the academy is not a member of the bank, the loan is being sanctioned in public interest.

KDF to field three candidates

KOCHI MARCH 30. The Kerala Dalit Federation (KDF) will field three of its office-bearers as independent candidates in the forthcoming Parliamentary elections. Announcing this at a press conference here today, the KDF president, P. Ramabhadran, said V. Haridasan would contest from Kozhikode while K.P.C. Kutty Master would face the electorate in Manjeri. The candidate for the Kollam constituency would be announced after the State committee meeting on April 4.

Musicians protest against IPRS

KOZHIKODE MARCH 30. The Musicians Welfare Association (MWA) has demanded that the State Government desist from any move to enforce the rules formulated by the Indian Performing Rights Society (IPRS). At a press conference here today, MWA office-bearers expressed their apprehension about the IPRS stipulation, which demanded that singers ought to get licences by paying royalty before singing songs rendered by other singers. Such stipulations would adversely affect those musicians who eked out a living by singing at ganamelas, they said. The association threatened to initiate legal proceedings if the IPRS rules were to be implemented in the State.

`No move to cancel West Coast Express'

The Palakkad Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), S.K. Sharma, has discounted rumours that there was a proposal to cancel the Mangalore-Chennai West Coast Express. Replying to queries from presspersons here today, Mr. Sharma there was a proposal to speed up the train and not cancel it. With the introduction of the summer special train, there would in fact be an additional third train operating between Mangalore and Chennai. Earlier, the summer special train operated only between Mangalore and Shoranur. From this year, the proposal was to extend the train to Chennai, he said.

SNDP unit Platinum Jubilee fete

PATHANAMTHITTA March 30. The Speaker, Vakkom Purushothaman, will inaugurate the valedictory function of the year-long Platinum Jubilee celebrations of the SNDP Yogam, Karamveli unit, at the Karamveli SNDP Higher Secondary School grounds, near Kozhencherry, on April 4. The Yogam general secretary, Vellappally Natesan, will inaugurate the new `Nadappanthal' attached to the Gurumandiram on the school premises. The Guru Dharma Pracharana Sabha State vice-president, P.R. Bhaskaran, will deliver the benedictory address and the SNDP union president, P.G. Anandan will deliver the keynote address.

Gets one-year

imprisonment

KOTTAYAM March 30. A man accused in the death of his neighbour has been sentenced to one-year rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 5,000 by the Kottayam Fast Track court. According to the prosecution, Valiankal Jose of Moonnilavu, had consistently disturbed and intimidated his neighbour, Lucy, which ultimately forced her to commit suicide. The court found Jose guilty of instigating the deed.

SBI project

ALAPPUZHA March 30. A state-of-the-art devise, which enables coir workers to make coir yarn in an easier way, would be dedicated to the nation at a function here on April 2. The machinery was developed by SBI Project Uptech.

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