The Hindu : Kerala News : Briefly

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 30, 2005

Kerala

Kerala

Briefly

VHSE valuation from April 1

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM March 29. The centralised evaluation of the answer sheets of the Vocational Higher Secondary Education (VHSE) examinations will commence at the Government VHS, Manacaud, on April 1. A press release issued here today said teachers who have received the necessary orders should report for duty as per the timetable given to them.

Sandalwood Protection Day

The Government and environmental organisations will jointly observe Earth Day (April 22) as Sandalwood Protection Day. Rallies and a public meeting will be organised at Marayur on April 22 as part of the programme, the Minister for Water Resources and Forests, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, said here on Tuesday. Two marches will be organised from Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod with a view to spreading the message of the Day. The march from Kasaragod, to be led by V. Sobheendran, will start on April 15. The march from Thiruvananthapuram, to be led by Peruvanthanam John, will begin the next day. Both the marches will converge at Mangalavanam in Kochi on April 20 before proceeding to Marayur. A seminar will be held in Kochi on April 20 in cooperation with an organisation of advocates, Leaf. Environmental activists will plant seedlings of sandalwood throughout the State during these days. A meeting of environmental organisations has elected P.T. Thomas, MLA, as chairman and A.K. Mani, MLA, as the convener of the programme.

Assumes charge

S.V. Menon, a senior grade officer of the Indian Information Service, has assumed charge in Thiruvananthapuram as Regional Officer of the Kerala-Lakshadweep region of the Directorate of Field Publicity, Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Prior to this, he had served as Deputy Director, Directorate of Film Festivals, New Delhi; Information Officer, Press Information Bureau, New Delhi; News Editor, News Service Division of All India Radio, New Delhi; and as Joint Director, Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP), New Delhi.

Adjustment of excess tax

The Central Board of Excise & Customs has permitted providers who had paid any excess service tax under provisional assessment on or before March 31, 2005, to adjust it against the tax for April 2005. K.P. Singh, DG (Service Tax), said that it was being done as numerous service tax assesses had expressed difficulties in estimating the correct value of services likely to be provided by them up to March 31 for which service tax was required to be paid by March 31.

BSNL hikes commission rates

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited will be revising the commission, minimum guarantee amount and security deposit for STD/ISD public call offices (PCOs) from April1 this year. The commission will be 25 per cent in respect of billed metered call units (MCUs) up to 2,500 a month, 27.5 per cent for 2,501 to 4,000 MCUs a month, 30 per cent for 4,001 to 7,000 MCUs a month, 32.5 per cent for 7,001 to 10,000 MCUs a month and 35 per cent for MCUs above 10,000 a month. The commission is on non-graded basis and the unit call will be Rs.1.20. The minimum guarantee per PCO a month will be Rs.800 in urban areas and Rs.100 in rural areas. The security deposit in urban areas has been fixed at a maximum of Rs.5,000. In rural areas, it will be Rs.600 or six-month average earning, whichever is higher subject to a maximum of Rs.5,000. There will be no change in the service charge being collected by franchisees on STD/ISD calls. Service tax will continue to be levied at the gross value of the bill.

Probe into scam demanded

The Kerala Civil Supplies Officers Association has demanded a probe into the sugar scam involving various agencies. Office-bearers of the Association submitted memoranda demanding the probe to the Food Minister, Adoor Prakash, and the Leader of the Opposition, V.S. Achuthanandan, here today.

RBI cash counter

The cash counter of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) here will be kept open up to 3.30 p.m. on March 31 to accept receipt of cast for credit to Government accounts, according to an official press note.

Pepper procurement to continue

A meeting of those concerned, which was chaired by the Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy, here today decided to continue pepper procurement actively. It gave the go-ahead for increasing the ceiling of the amount being made available by the State Cooperative Bank for pepper procurement to Rs. 50 crores. The Government would obtain necessary clearance from the Nabard for it. The meeting was attended by P.P. Thankachan, chairman, and Mohammed Hanish, managing director of Marketfed, Aravindakshan, president, and X.Anil, managing director of the State Cooperative Bank, and the Chief Minister's secretary, Dinesh Sharma.

Damages awarded to lawyer

Kochi March 29. The Ernakulam Additional sub-court today directed Jomon Puthenpurackal, former convener, Action Council for investigation into the murder of Sister Abhaya, and Kairali TV to pay damages of Rs. 80,000 and Rs. 20,000 respectively to A.X. Varghese, a High Court lawyer for making defamatory statement against him.

The decree was passed by the judge while allowing a defamation case filed by Mr. Varghese, who had once appeared for the Action Council in many cases.

According to him, the statement given by Mr. Jomon Puthenpurackal regarding the handling of the Abhaya case during a programme telecast by Kairali TV was per se defamatory.

The programme was aired on January 19, 2001.

The judge also referred to the High Court the case seeking to initiate contempt of court proceedings against Mr. Jomon Puthenpurackal.

Religious discourse

KOZHIKODE MARCH 29. The annual religious discourse `Madeenayilekkulla patha', delivered by M.P. Abdusamad Samadani, will be held at the beach here on April 1 and 2. The discourse seeks to spread the message of universal brotherhood and communal amity, the organisers said. The discourse is being held for the 16th year in succession.

The Muslim League supremoSyed Mohammed Shihab Thangal, will inaugurate the event. Syed Mohammed Bafakki Thangal will preside over the programme.

The chairman, Narayana Gurukula, Narayana Prasad, the Kozhikode Bishop, Joseph Kalathiparambil and the Minister of State for External Affairs, E. Ahmed, among others will participate in the inauguration.

Inquiry demanded

The Kozhikode District Committee, Yuva Janata Dal, has demanded that the Crime Branch conduct an inquiry into the alleged harassment of girls at a home nursing balamandiram in the city. The district secretary, Saleem Madavoor, said in a press release here today that such an inquiry was pertinent so that those responsible can be brought to book.

Ganja

seized

KOLLAM March 29. An Excise team from the Karunagapally circle on Monday night seized 5.9 kg of ganja from a Maruti car passing through the Karunagapally-Sasthamcotta road. The Excise inspector, B. Suresh, who led the team, said that three persons were arrested in this connection.

The ganja was being brought from Enath near Adoor to be handed over to someone at Mararithottam near Kayamkulam. The Maruti car bearing the register number KL 01M 6221 was also taken into custody. The seized ganga was worth Rs. 1 lakh in the dope market, Mr. Suresh said.

Those arrested were identified as Kunjumon (54), his wife Omana (42) and a relative, Reji (26). All of them were produced before a court at Karunagapally today and remanded.

Budget copy burnt

The Opposition United Democratic Front members in the Corporation Council today burnt a copy of the budget text in the Council hall while its provisions were taken up for discussion today.

They alleged that the Kollam Corporation's budget for 2005-2006 presented on Monday was only a repetition of the budget provisions made in the past several years.

Even as the copy was being burnt, the Mayor, Sabida Beegum, announced that the budget had been passed.

Canal cleaning

Administrative sanction has been obtained to invite tenders for cleaning up the Kollam Canal.

Announcing this at a press conference here today, the Labour Minister and the Kollam MLA, Babu Divakaran, said that in the first phase of the project, cleaning work would be done at a cost of Rs. 58 lakhs.

The cleaning up will cover a length of 7.750 km and width of 15 m of the canal. On completion, it is expected that water will flow at a depth of 4 ft. In the second phase, those residing on the banks of the canal will be rehabilitated and the banks fortified. The expenditure for the second phase is estimated to be Rs. 5 crores.

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