Thiru

T'puram: Inspired by Gandhi, FB group turns to service

Thiruvananthapuram: Yet another Facebook group has taken wings and flown out of virtual space, hoping to be Good Samaritans in real life. The group, named Helping Hands, was started by a BE Computer Science student, Shilpa G J, of Narayana Guru College of Engineering, Manjalumoodu. The group brought smiles to the faces of a few mentally-challenged children last week when its members visited Amma centre for rehabilitation and training of...  

T'puram: KWA to resume work on 'forgotten sewer line'

Thiruvananthapuram: Originally conceptualised in 1972, a sewerage line under the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) which could benefit around 8,000 families in the city is yet to be commissioned. But now, following the initiative of a citizen activist, things have finally got rolling. The sewerage line was planned for Maruthamkuzhi, Koottanvila, Kattachal, Pangode and Udiyannoor areas. According to officials, land acquisition issues on four stretches had brought inordinate delay to the...  

T'puram: No solution to parking woes

Thiruvananthapuram: Bustle and commotion are synonymous with Onam, and so is the traffic snarl. With Onam and Eid round the corner, the City Corporation officials and the Traffic wing of the police are yet to chalk out a plan to contain the surge of vehicles that are expected to hit the road prior to the festive days. According to officials, it is the non-availability of parking spaces in the city...  

T'puram: Horticorp Fair drawing huge crowds

Thiruvananthapuram: With the prices of vegetables skyrocketing in the open market with onset of Onam season, the Onam-Ramzan fair of the Kerala State Horticultural Products Development Corporation (Horticorp) on the Institute of Engineers premises is drawing huge crowds. The total sales on Saturday alone crossed the Rs 60,000-mark. To meet the high demand of vegetables during the period, Horticorp is directly procuring vegetables from farmers. Meat Products of India (MPI)...  

T'puram: F1, carnival to mark Onam feast

Thiruvananthapuram: A slew of programmes highlighting the cultural heritage of the State awaits festival-goers at the Tourism Week of Kerala to be held during Onam. The week-long Onam celebrations being planned by the Tourism Department and the District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) will start on August 28 and conclude on September 3. The programmes of DTPC will be held at six venues and that of Tourism Department at 26 venues....  

ESMA threat: LPG strike ends in T'puram

Thiruvananthapuram: The 16-day-old strike of LPG headload workers in the district was called off on Friday, as Labour Minister Shibu Baby John and department officials stepped in and acted tough, a day after the High Court also intervened with an interim stay and status quo order on various contentious issues which had led to the stir. The workers and transporters yielded when the the Minister maintained in unequivocal terms that...  

T'puram airport: Bird hits to be checked

Thiruvananthapuram: Concerned over the increasing incidents of bird hits, the Airfield Environment Management Committee (AEMC) of the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport has decided not to allow the sale of meat and fish in the open in a 10-km radius of the airport. The airport had witnessed six incidents of bird hits in 2011-12 and three in 2012-13 till July, which is far above the normal rate. The Airports Authority of India...  

Thiruvananthapuram: A celebration of Onam and Olympics

Thiruvananthapuram: Seventy students from ten schools in the district participated in the Karshika Olympics held on Museum compound in the city on Thursday. A joint venture of Agrifriends Krishi Samskarika Vedi, Government Employees Welfare Society (GEWS), Farm Information Bureau (FIB) and the Department of Museums and Zoos, the days events were organised to celebrate the states most important festival season, Onam, and the most happening event in the world today...  

T'puram: LPG unavailable, no solution in sight

Thiruvananthapuram: The ongoing dispute between trade unions and transporting contractors of oil companies over loading/unloading charges even after seven rounds of conciliatory talks, which has badly hit LPG supplies in the capital city and around for the past two weeks, is unlikely to get an immediate solution. Transport contractors have approached the court on the issue, thereby giving a new dimension to the stalemate. As floor stocks with Indane and...  

T'puram: Work on high speed rail corridor to begin in 2014

Kochi: If everything goes well, the work of the ambitious Rs 1.8 lakh-crore high speed rail corridor project from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasargod will begin by January 2014. It will take eight years to complete the project. The first phase of the project from Thiruvananthapuram to Ernakulam, with an estimated cost of Rs 45,000 crore, will be completed in five years. Another three years are required to complete the project from...  

Vizhinjam project: Kerala govt seeks VGF relaxation

Thiruvananthapuram: The State Government is seeking relaxation in Viability Gap Funding (VGF) norms for making Central assistance possible for the multi-crore Vizhinjam international container transshipment terminal project. The state has urged the Centre to exempt it from two conditions for VGF. One, that the project should offer a service having pre-determined tariff, and, two, the VGF would be limited to 20 per cent of the project cost. The government has...  

T'puram: Father kills daughter, commits suicide

Thiruvananthapuram: In a shocking incident, a father killed his seven-year-old physically challenged daughter and then committed suicide at Kalimukku near Avanavancherry on Tuesday. 42-year-old Jyothish killed his daughter Ammu and then hanged himself in his bedroom. According to Attingal police, Jyothish had committed the act out of mental strain and desperation as both of his daughters were born with incurable physical disabilities. The elder girl child who has been lying...  

T'puram: Open prison gets check dams

Thiruvananthapuram: The open prison at Nettukaltheri, which had earlier created a unique model in farming, is again setting an example with a handful of projects, ranging from beautification projects to check dams. The two check dams, built at the Nettukaltheri prison and Thevancode annexe, will cater to the irrigation needs of the prison, making 320 acres of land suitable for agriculture out of the total 474 acres. The check dam...  

Director Boopathy Pandian quits 'Jagan Mohan IPS'

At a time when many are of the idea that director Boopathy Pandian will make a strong comeback with his forthcoming film, which is a bilingual being made in Tamil and Telugu, he has walked out of the project. Titled 'Jagan Mohan IPS' (a different title was being worked out for the Tamil version), the movie has top Tollywood hero Gopichand and Nayanthara in the lead roles. "I have walked...  

Kerala monsoon situation similar to 2002

Thiruvananthapuram: The deficient southwest monsoon in the state has broken a 10-year record. The first half of the monsoon (June-July) has recorded a 42 per cent deficient rainfall this year. A similar scenario was there in 2002 when the state recorded 43 per cent deficient rainfall in the first half of the monsoon season. Surprisingly, both the years witnessed the presence of El Nino condition. Though the India Meteorological Department...  

Rs 179 crore for T'puram's modernisation

Thiruvananthapuram: In a bid to modernise power sector in the capital city, the Centre has granted Rs 179 crore under the Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (R-APDRP). The amount is in addition to the Rs 90 crore that was granted earlier, which means the city will get Rs 269 crore as aid from the Centre for the modernisation process. As part of the programme, 130 transformers and 3,000...  

Vilappil: T'puram Police ready for 'battle'

Thiruvananthapuram: With the district administration and the City Corporation all set to move clay and machinery to the Vilappilsala waste treatment plant on Friday to complete the construction of the leachate unit there, the police are on their toes to ensure that the law and order situation is under control. More than 2,000 policemen, nearly thrice the number that was deployed in the area in February, when the Corporation, backed...  

Hartal hits T'puram hard

Thiruvananthapuram: The dawn-to-dusk hartal called by the CPM hit normal life hard in the district, with incidents of violence being reported from various areas. Shops, business establishments and educational institutions remained closed, while government offices registered thin attendance. Two KSRTC employees were manhandled at Nedumangad and hartal supporters damaged the glass pane of a Maruti car in Maranelloor. In Kattakkada, four different cases were registered, including an attack on the...  

KTDC to purchase food products from govt agencies

Thiruvananthapuram: With food adulteration being reported from various parts of the state, Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) has decided to purchase meat and fish from government agencies for all its hotels. The purchase will be made from the Livestock Development Board, Meat Products of India, Kerala State Coastal Area Development Corporation and other agencies. This will ensure that quality food is being served in all the KTDC hotels. KTDC managing...  

Thiruvananthapuram: Vilappil residents protest

Thiruvananthapuram: Once again, the people of Vilappil, led by their panchayat members, will take to the main street of Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday against the Government move to allow the City Corporation to transport machinery to the Vilappilsala waste treatment plant. An informal meeting of the panchayat officials with Urban Affairs Minister Manjalamkuzhi Ali on Tuesday morning could not convince the former to have a rethink on the mass agitation planned....