Magra to release T shirts

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: How about flaunting a T Shirt printed ‘kuzhappam aayinna tonnunne’(I think it is all messed up) while admitting that you have done something wrong or ‘Illa sir njangal innale illa sir’ (No sir, we were not there yesterday) before your boss? Fans of Malayaleegraphy, a facebook page which experiment on Malayalam calligraphy, can soon buy such T Shirts.

Hiran Venugopal, chief technical officer, and Orion C Jose, art director, of ad firm Salt Mango Tree, who are behind Malayaleegraphy aka Magra, have decided to launch Magra T shirts with imprints of popular dialogues and one-liners in varieties of calligraphy. The Magra team is planning to launch T shirts by the end of May. However, for Magra, it is just another hobby as the Malayaleegraphy. “We are still at the planning stage. We are yet to decide on pricing and other details,” said Hiran.

In line with Malayaleegraphy, popular movie dialogues will be the major attraction of T shirts. “When we first began calligraphy experiments, we used dialogues from Padmarajan’s ‘Lola’. But when use used Salim Kumar’s dialogues ‘avanmarku change venamatre’ from the film ‘Chathikkatha chandu’, it became an instant hit. So, we will continue using popular movie dialogues for T shirts too. We will also add popular contents and haiku poems of popular bloggers,” said Hiran. Magra team has plans to introduce posters and bookmarks in Malayleegraphy format.

Launched in March 19, Malayleegraphy became viral among Malayali facebook users with the right mix of pun and popular dialogues. Malayaleegraphy has more than 14100 likes now.

Hiran, an active member of Swantra Malayalam Computing, with his interest in experimenting with Malayalam fonts, Orion, who is keen in calligraphy experiments, have created more than 50 designs in Magra. They Magra has also inspired a number of similar activities in social networking sites such as twitter and facebook.

Digging begins at CRIP road for laying KWA pipe

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: The tussle over digging of newly widened road for the pipe laying works has finally ended with the intervention of Chief Minister Oomen Chandy. On Friday, the officials of Kerala Water Authority (KWA) began digging of the 1 km Peroorkada-Vazhayila road developed under the City Roads Improvement Project (CRIP) to lay pipe from Aruvikkara to city.

Both Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB) and Thiruvananthapuram Road Development Company Limited (TRDCL) have been opposing the digging of the road. However, things went in favour of KWA due to the repeated pipe bursts in the main transmission line. Recurrent pipe bursts made it crucial to replace 1995-made 1200 mm diameter pre stressed concrete pipe with 1219 mm diameter mild steel pipe.

In a meeting convened by Chief Minister last week, PWD secretary was asked to give permission for road cutting. Following this, KWA paid KRFB Rs 2.66 crore as restoration charge. KWA had also paid Rs 4.65 crore to PWD as restoration charge for more than 6 km from Aruvikkara to Vazhayila.

According to KWA officials, the pipe replacement work has covered almost 2.35 km so far. “Currently, three batches of employees were deputed at the stretch. One batching is working from pumping station in Auvikkara junction while other batch in the opposite direction. The third batch has begun work in the Peroorkada-Vazhayila stretch,” said KWA official. After completion of work in Aruvikkara, the two batches will shift to Kalathukal-Kachani stretch.

Traffic at one lane has been blocked at the Peroorkada-Vazahyila stretch as part of the work. According to KWA, it would take 30 days to complete the work. The ms pipe will be laid in almost 8 km stretch from Aruvikkara to Peroorkada. Once the ms pipe is commissioned, the psc pipe will serve as emergency line. The Rs 38 crore project involves laying of pipe along Aruvikkara dam- Aruvikkara junction- Irumba- Kalathukal - Kachani - Mukkola-Vazhayila - Peroorkada stretch. Ms pipes are expected to have life of 80 years. Though KWA got sanction for the project in August 2012 and inauguration was held in September, the actual work began in January, this year. Water Resources Minister P J Joseph has set June as the deadline for completion of pipe laying project.

KWA's major worry of transmission loss due to leakage and recurrent pipe bursts will end with the commissioning of new pipe.

ENDS

Kadinamkulam panchayat to ‘bat’tle against mosquitoes

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: Pest control, like waste management, has become a major headache for local bodies. Whenever mosquito menace increases, the local bodies have to face severe criticism for its laxity in carrying out routine vector control measures. While most local bodies try out various measures such as fogging, larvae control, etc. Kadinamkulam panchayat has gone one step ahead and is planning to distribute mosquito swatter bats to its residents.

The area has witnessed an exponential rise in the number of mosquitoes. Some of the villagers attribute the reason for increase in number of mosquitoes to depletion of water in Kadinamkulam lake. “There have been several complaints against the rising menace of mosquitoes. So, we convened a meeting of health officials last month. Though there is no case of spread of vector-borne diseases, we decided to intensify anti-mosquito drive. The panchayat has decided to begin the drive with fogging. As a second step, we have plans to deliver mosquito bats,” said Kadinamkulam panchayat president Leela Antony.

Leela said they are planning to deliver the bats using the panchayat fund. “We are planning to buy bats at Rs 450 each. Though bats are available at lower cost, there is no guarantee for such models,” she told TOI. “Our plan is to deliver 50 bats to each ward in the first phase. There are 23 wards under the panchayats. Priority will be given to houses which have children below the age of five,” Leela said.

Leela said the reason for sudden rise in mosquito population was unknown. “We started receiving complaints for the past one-and-a-half month. We have assigned field workers for activities such as fogging,” Leela said. She added that the proposal to deliver electric bats was at its preliminary stage.

Villagers said there was an unprecedented dip in the water level at Kadinamkulam lake and the shallow water might be providing a better breeding ground for mosquitoes. The village is surrounded by Kadinamkulam lake in the east and Arabian sea in the west.

Second phase of CRDP fails to attract consultants

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: The second phase of Capital Region Development Programme (CRDP) is facing glitches in its very beginning. No consultancy service has turned up for the tender floated by Centre for Management Development (CMD) for transactional advisory service for the CRDP.

The last date for submitting the tender was February 25. The service of transactional advisor includes project identification, preparation of detailed feasibility and project report, etc.

Chief secretary Jose Cyriac will convene a high-level committee meeting on March 27 to discuss the issue. “We will check why no one turned up for the bid. We will think of relaxing some of the conditions such as deposit money of Rs 50 lakh, certain payment conditions, etc. Some of these conditions must have looked too stiff for the companies,” said T Balakrishnan, one of the members of the committee which reviews CRDP. Some of the clause in the tender demanded the bidder to have annual turnover of Rs 250 lakh and net worth of Rs 20 crore. The period of transactional advisor is for three years, initially.

The high-power committee under the chairmanship of chief minister Oommen Chandy had decided to take up four projects of the total 10 under CRDP in 2013-14. The projects selected were improvement of existing roads, construction of ring roads and link roads, preparation of parking policy and building parking places, environmental improvements of markets, shopping streets and parks and planting more saplings.

Of these projects, water resources department has taken up the works to clean Parvathy Puthanar. Widening of Maruthankuzhy-Nettayam road also is expected to begin soon.

Other projects selected for CRDP in the coming years were 100% drinking water facility, 100% percent coverage of sewerage system, improvement of broadband, WiFi connectivity, revitalization of heritage commission, highlighting of landmarks and introduction of music and art circuits. The project also plan development of alternative source of energy, provide UG cabling, etc.

The first phase of the CRDP was launched in 2002 and under that project the City Roads Improvement Project (Crip) has been taken up. The Crip, which involves rebuilding of 42 km of prime city roads in international standards, has entered the final phase. The good feedback received for Crip was one of the main reasons that prompted the government to launch the second phase of CRDP. Some projects, originally conceived for the first phase and didn’t take off, have been included in the second phase.

Akshaya transfers benefits through Aadhaar

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: The Akshaya Project has become the first agency in the state to make direct entitlements transfer through Aadhaar-enabled payment bridge (AEPB), a gateway through which transfer of benefits will be made directly to the beneficiary’s Aadhaar-linked bank account. Last week, Akshaya transferred the Comprehensive Health Insurance Agency of Kerala incentives worth about Rs 1 lakh to 45 Akshaya entrepreneurs using the AEPB.

According to Akshaya project director P Balakiran, all the 2,000 Akshaya beneficiaries were enrolled under UID Aadhaar and their bank accounts linked to their Aadhaar numbers. Akshaya, then, entered into sponsor bank agreement with the Canara Bank.

“We have developed our own software which converts the excel file into AEPB file format. On February 26, we transferred the AEPB file to the Canara Bank to do the test transaction of Re 1 each to 10 beneficiaries,” Balakiran said.

After the test transaction became successful, Rs 1 lakh was transferred to the 45 Akshaya entrepreneurs on March 7. The list of all the Aadhaar numbers and the amount was submitted as an AEPB file to the Canara Bank. The bank sent the AEPB file to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) Mapper, which has the complete repository of Aadhaar numbers and linked bank accounts. NPCI transferred the amount to the Aadhaar-linked bank accounts of the beneficiaries.

“Akshaya has decided to transfer all the entitlements only through the AEPB. This will ensure that the benefits reach the genuine beneficiaries reducing delays and avoiding middlemen. It is also in line with the government policy that the benefits be transferred directly to their Aadhaar-linked bank accounts,” said Balakiran.

SSLC exam not ‘special’ for them

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: The scene in front of the resource room for Inclusive Education for the Disabled (IED) was in stark contrast to other venues of SSLC exams. There was no last minute preparation, anxious prayers or tensed looks. SSLC exam was business as usual for the students, who are trained under Inclusive Education for Disable at Secondary Stage (IEDSS), a project of general education department to bring students with physical and learning disabilities, to mainstream.

The second day of SSLC exam was just another day for the 28 IED students of St Mary’s HSS Pattom, which fields the highest number of IED students in the district.

“He is not anxious about the exam. He is not aware that it is important. That worries me,” said Sithara, mother of Abhin Raj S I, who is one among the students who attends the exam with the support of a scribe.

A total of 1,23,560 IED students write SSLC examination this year. Of these, 502 students are from Thiruvananthapuram. Of the 28 students in St Mary’s HSS, 19 are with learning difficulties, four hearing impaired, four have learning disabilities, and one orthopedic handicap. However, only six with learning difficulties use scribes for the exam.

St Mary’s HSS gives special training students with physical and learning disabilities. “I never had such a good experience from other schools in training my son, who is hyperactive. Here, the teachers as well as other children are very compassionate and helping,” said Girija, mother of Rahul K G, who is a special student. “He has improved a lot. Now he can even read and write Hindi,” she said.

At St Mary’s HSS, special children are given classes along with other students. They are also given special training by the resource teachers. “During the exam, they get distracted easily. The lack continuity,” said Sithara, who found a scribe, eight standard student Gayatri, for her son.

Resource teacher Bindu G, who has been training special children for a decade, said most students pass the exam. “In the exam sheets of eligible students, the invigilator will write down rule no 66055, stating that the student was eligible for 25% grace mark,” said Bindu, who said most students join back the school to pursue higher secondary education.

According to R Rajan, deputy director of IED, the allegation about inclusion of undeserved students in IED list was not true. “It is true that there is rise in number of IED students. But that is because more are aware of the disabilities. We have trained around 5,600 teachers and 5,200 parents about various disabilities. The IED is to bring students with physical and learning disabilities into mainstream,” Rajan said.

He added that grace marks were given only to students who had certificates by medical board. “Only students with learning disabilities are given 25% grace mark. They can use a scribe or an interpreter. They need to write only one language paper. Visually challenged students can ask for a scribe. They, if needed, can choose any vocation subject, instead of Maths,” he said.

Malayalam Wiki takes a women-centric turn

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: As part of this year’s women’s day celebrations, Malayalam Wikipedians have launched a month-long edit-a-thon, a drive to expand articles of importance to women. The project aims to introduce more women to Malayalam Wikipedia, create new articles related to women, expand the existing stubs and translate English articles to Malayalam.

Launched in tune with Wikipedia’s WikiWomen’s History Month projects, Wikipedians worldwide are organizing similar events.

Though Malayalam Wikipedia is one of the most active languages Wikipedia, the number of women editors are below a dozen. Of these, only one or two are active editors.

Netha Hussain, Kozhikode-based medical student, who is the torchbearer of project in Malayalam, agreed that only a few women are active in Malayalam Wikipedia. “The project aims to introduce more women to Wikipedia. A list of topics, which needs to be expanded, edited etc, has been prepared. Biography of prominent women and translation of biographies are all part of the event,” Netha said.

Usha Titus, M T Padma, K K Lathika, J Arundhati, Malethu Sarala Devi, Rosamma Chacko, Jameela Prakasham are some of the prominent women included in list of personalities to be included in Wikipedia as part of the drive, which will conclude on March 31. Articles of a number of women, including Tessy Thomas, Mercy Ravi, Ajitha, Parvathy Omanakuttan etc, will be expanded. Biographies of award-winning women, people’s representatives, etc will be translated from English to Malayalam.

Surprisingly, except Netha and Ditty Mathew from Kochi, all others who have joined the edit-a-thon so far are men.

They gear up to rise in millions

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: Some hesitantly stood up while others said they would join later. But it took only a while for all to get into dancing mode. They shook their legs and proudly sang ‘Takarilla…patarilla..karayilla..njangal…” making their statement strong and clear. Women of various ages were present at the Parishad Bhavan in Chettikulangara in the city last Sunday to gear up for the mega event One Billion Rising (OBR) to be held at Sanghumukham beach on Thursday. The women in city will throng the beach on Valentine’s Day to become one among the one billion women who gather worldwide to strike, dance and to raise demand to end violence against women.

When theatre artist Shylaja P Ambu presented the steps, all followed her cheerfully. Four Norwegian students, Ina Indergard, Live Kristiane, Ksetil Birkeland and Sandra Oline, who were in the state to study about the education system, were excited to join them. Ina said she was hearing about the OBR for the first time. However, she added that she would join the women on the beach on February 14.

“I have arranged some simple steps so that all can dance. There will be some formations in between to give awareness on violence against women. Some properties will be used as symbols to represent gender sensitivity,” Shylaja said.

Leading women organizations such as Sakhi, Mahila Samakhya, Democratic Women’s Association, etc. are the main organizers. The volunteers are busy visiting schools and colleges in the city to ensure maximum participation. “We will be visiting Govt Arts College, NSS College, Neeramankara and University College to inform students about the OBR. The students of College of Fine Arts have already agreed to be a part of programme,” said Satheera Udayakumar, a member of Kerala Shastra Sahitya Parishad.

Men joined the campaign on Tuesday by extending all support to OBR. A panel discussion was held at Gandhi Park in the evening. Prominent personalities such as senior journalist BRP Bhaskar, M G Radhakrishnan, MLA James Mathew, former minister Binoy Viswam, SFI state president Shiju Khan, R Radhakrishnan (Shastra Sahitya Parishad), E M Satheesan (Yuva Kala Sahithi) and others attended the programme.

The OBR will begin at 6pm at Shanghumukham beach on Thursday. Performance by Parvathy Baul, singer Pushpavati, Apt Performance and Art Research, Natana, cultural club of Technopark, etc. will be held. Girls will conduct bicycle rally and will perform karate. Vidwan band will also perform.

CPM snubs KRFB

Jisha Surya / TNN

Thiruvananthapuram: By arranging a solidarity meeting at Martyr’s square, CPM on Saturday condemned protest against Kamal Hassan movie ‘Vishwaroopam’. Incidentally, the function also gave CPM a venue to oppose Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB), which has recently made it mandatory to have prior sanction and fee to organize functions at Martyrs’ square.

Fed up with recurrent public meetings which make maintenance of Martyrs’ square a costly affair, KRFB has made it stricter to have a charge of Rs 5000 and refundable security of Rs 10,000 for organising events there. The CPM was the first to organise an event at the venue after the order was issued last week. When contacted, officials of both KRFB and the concessionaire Thiruvananthapuram Road Development Company Limited (TRDCL) said that CPM had neither informed nor paid the amount to organise event at Martyrs’ Square.

Kadakkampally Surendran, district secretary of CPM, said they would not give a penny to the KRFB for the space they utilised for a public event. “I saw KRFB’s notice board at Martyrs’ square. This is injustice. It is fair to ask the organisers to clean the venue. But to impose penalty or fees is extremely unfair. We won’t give a penny. We are organising meeting at the concrete space. It won’t cause any damage,” he said. Surendran, however, praised KRFB for keeping the city beautiful. “It is appreciable that they are maintaining the road very beautifully. But we cannot agree to such injustices,” he said.

A senior official of City Roads Improvement Project (CRIP), said it would cost them Rs 10,000-15,000 to maintain the square after public meetings. “The original plan was the turn the space into a park. Later, we constructed it as a venue for meeting. But, it is just like renting out a stadium. The amount was fixed as a rent and security,” he said. “The participants usually damage the lawn and litter the premises with flags and festoons,” he said.

The TRDCL is in charge of maintaining the roads, footpaths and areas developed under Crip for the next 15 years.

An unreserved ticket is just an app away

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: Haven’t we all cursed and coaxed ourselves to be patient while standing in long serpentine queues at railway stations? The most frustrating part is when you have ticket in hand, the train’s left the platform and you really wish you had a better alternative. What seems like a pretty impractical idea pushed the grey cells of some young innovators at Sayone Technologies Private Limited in Kochi and the result is a mobile-based unreserved ticketing android application that helps passengers book unreserved tickets without waiting in queue.

“In order to avoid fraudulent practices, we have included a rider. The app will be activated only the vicinity of a server which railways can install in any crowded area. The app will be linked to the device using wi-fi. So, the user will not be able to buy tickets on a moving train or the platform,” said A Real Prad, CEO of SayOne Technologies adding that the server will manage data in sync with the current set of railway services.

Users can download the application on their smart phone to begin bookings. COO of SayOne Vaishak C P said the application supports only e-payment. “It can be using net banking, credit/debit cards or prepaid e-wallet, which could be recharged,” he said. Prad said that cost of implementation and maintenance are less compared and cashless transaction avoids petty squabble over not tendering exact change, a common occurrence at ticket counters.

SayOne is trying to get Railways’ nod for implementing the application. NASSCOM has already extended its support for the project. “We could develop the application if we Railways assures us some support,” said Real. Railway’s website is the highest searched entity in the country. Hence apps related to Railways have the potential to become a major hit.

KWA puts consumers in a fix

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram

A group of consumers who have trusted the plumbers entirely for availing house water connections are in the midst of devil and the deep sea, literally. The Kerala Water Authority (KWA) has tightened its grip over the consumers whose illegal connections were caught red handed by the drought mitigation squad recently by asking them to file complaint against plumbers who had taken them for a ride.

Around 30 illegal connections were caught by the squad from various areas in the city during the raids last week. However, due to the nexus between the customers and plumbers, KWA was unable to identify some plumbers. The KWA has given an ultimatum of one week to the customers to file case against the plumbers as many of the customers refused to file complaints citing personal relationship with plumbers who are either their neighbours or relatives.

“We have informed them that if they fail to file complaint, we will file cases against them,” said an executive engineer, who added that it was the best option to crack their nexus. The KWA also informed that they will not be served water connection if they fail to file case against the plumbers.

Though KWA cracked around 30 cases, they are yet to make a list of the plumbers who served illegal water connection to the houses. “This is because the consumers were reluctant to name the plumbers. One of the reasons is that the plumbers mostly belonged to the same locality and there exist a nexus between them. Unless, we break this nexus, they will continue with this illegal act,” KWA official said.

The KWA has taken immediate action against some plumbers by suspending their licence. “But some of them didn’t have a license. Unless the consumers file complaint for cheating them, we have to approach police against both the consumers and plumber for misuse of our property,” said KWA official.

Recently, Sreekumaran Nair, a licenced plumber, was caught for serving illegal connection to around 19 houses in Sreekaryam, Chenkottukonam area. His license was immediately suspended. Each consumer was slapped with a fine of Rs 20,000.

“Another consumer in Killippalam who was slapped with a fine of Rs 86,000 has approached us with a request to reduce the fine amount. We have asked him to first register complaint against the plumber,” the KWA official said.

The KWA has launched drought mitigation squad to check illegal water connections and water theft during the summer. There were two squads, each consist of an overseer, a fitter and a plumber.

KWA squad cracks down on water thieves

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: The drought relief squad of Kerala Water Authority (KWA) formed almost a month ago, has cracked as many as 1,600 cases of water theft in the city so far. The squad, which is active from 6pm to 6am, has been able to check water misuse to a considerable level.

The PH division has formed two squads to check water theft as part of KWA’s drought mitigation initiative. Several families in Karimadom Colony, Jagathy, Aakulam and Anayara were recently served warning against siphoning tap water from public tap to their houses.

On Monday, the squad found out water theft at Karimadom Colony, where a family was found to siphon water from the public tap. In Jagathy, four families were found to involve in water theft. Recently, two cases were reported from Aakulam, where one end of a hose connected to a public tap was laid to a nearby well.

“Each day, we crack around seven-eight cases of water theft. Most of them use hose to take water from public tap to their house. Several such cases have come to our notice. Some use water for construction purpose. We have warned them all. If they repeat, we will close down the public tap at the area,” said KWA executive engineer Prakash Idicula. Public taps were closed at Punchakari and Anayara following widespread misuse of water.

One of the overseers said he faced stiff opposition from families involved in the illegal act. “Some argue that they do so because they don’t have water connection. They say they didn’t get connection even after filing application,” he said. “We usually seize the hose and warn them. Now the cases of water theft have come down drastically,” he said.

Each squad consists of a plumber, helper, driver and overseer. Assistant engineers of the area review the work.

In addition to inspection, the squad also checks leakages in distribution pipes. In such a major work, leak along an old 6-inch pipe near Chackai bridge was rectified. The leak at the pipe has been causing a loss of around 3 million litres of water per day. “We have plugged the leak and replaced all nine distribution pipes at the area”, Idicula said.

KWA to hold referendum to recognise trade unions

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Water Authority (KWA) is gearing up for its first referendum to give recognition to trade unions. The labour department has given a directive to KWA to issue a notification on May 25 in this regard. The referendum is expected to be held on June 25.

The referendum will be held to recognise trade unions in KWA. Though KWA has as many as 26 unions, four major unions -- INTUC, UTUC, AITUC and CITU -- will be eligible to participate in the referendum. The unions which garner 15% votes will be recognised as a trade union in KWA.

As per the direction of water resources minister P J Joseph, the KWA has requested the labour department to postpone the referendum citing the month as crucial for drought mitigation work. “We have urged the labour department to postpone the referendum, as the drought mitigation work may get affected by the campaign. We are yet to receive any response from the labour department,” said KWA MD Ashok Kumar Singh.

Meanwhile, some union representatives have alleged that KWA move to postpone the referendum was to support other existing ineligible unions. “The unions must be at least six months old to take part in the referendum. Some unions have formed a confederation recently. They will be eligible to participate in the election only if they complete six months. The KWA is pressing for postponement to make them eligible for the referendum,” alleged a union member.

A meeting was held on Monday -- attended by KWA MD and union representatives -- to decide on the employees eligible for voting. The KWA management is of the opinion that employees holding the post of first grade craftsman and below in the executive section, and junior superintendent and below in the technical section must be allowed to vote. Some unions are pressing for the inclusion of assistant engineers, division accountants, and senior superintendents in the voters’ list. A final decision will be taken by the labour department.

Church waiting for cemetery licence

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: It took more than seven years to clear the hurdles involved in the shifting of a portion of a cemetery for the widening of a stretch of the Airport-MLA Hostel Road. Issues ranging from convincing the local residents to clearing the stay on the construction consumed a lot of time.

Now, despite the St Joseph’s Metropolitan Cathedral at Palayam and St Thomas Marthoma Church at Pattoor setting aside their objections and deciding to give way for development, the civic body’s laxity has come in the way of the road widening work. Both churches are yet to get licences from the city corporation to set up alternate cemeteries.

The St Joseph’s church authorities have already started shifting of the mortal remains from their portion of the cemetery is being razed for road widening. However, the Marthoma church authorities are still waiting for corporation nod.

“We have completed the construction of a vault and are waiting for the corporation’s nod. We have submitted a petition to chief minister Oommen Chandy to speed up the process,” said Fr M Samuel, vicar of St Thomas Marthoma Church, Pattoor. St Thomas church will give away 13.5 cents of land for road widening while St Joseph’s church, 23 cents.

However, corporation officials are in the dark about the application. “We are not sure if we have received any application for the new cemetery from the church. We need to check the documents and find out the current status,” said work standing committee chairman V S Padmakumar.

St Thomas church was the first to complete the construction of a new vault which could hold around 300 caskets. But they fear that shifting of corpses without consent would create unnecessary issues.

As many as 480 tombs will be shifted from the 23 cents of land belonging to the St Joseph’s church as part of the work. They have already shifted 16 mortal remains to the newly-constructed vault.


LABOURER SHORTAGE

The St Joseph’s church authorities had a tough time chasing labourers for the tedious and odd job of shifting the mortal remains. The migrant labourers, who were roped in for the work on Sunday, ran away immediately after they realized the nature of the work.

Two north Indian labourers were arranged on Monday, the first day of shifting. According to the church authorities, the workers disappeared when they came to know that the work involved the shifting of mortal remains. “We didn’t get any time to convince them. They immediately ran away,” said Shajan Martin, the parish pastrol council secretary. However, the church managed to get some local workers who exhumed mortal remains and shifted them to the newly-built vaults. Eight tombs were cleared on Sunday. One of the tombs was opened by one Kingsly Rozario, son of a deceased, who volunteered to do the task himself.

“We never thought finding labourers for this job will be so hard,” said parish priest Fr John D Bosco.

However, the church authorities got four local workers who shifted eight corpses on Tuesday. “A total of 16 mortal remains were shifted. We are planning to complete the shifting works within 30 days,” Martin said.

Fresh impetus for Pettah ROB widening

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: Finally, stalemate over the development of Pettah railway overbridge (ROB) has been resolved. The ROB widening, which has been stuck up since 2006 as railways demanded a change in design which was not acceptable to Thiruvananthapuram Road Development Company Limited (TRDCL), got a go ahead in a meeting held between Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB) and railways on Saturday.

Railways gave an in principle nod to the general arrangement drawing (GAD) submitted by TRDCL. General manager of KRFB N Sudharshanan Pillai said they got a positive reply from the railways to go ahead with the ROB widening. “A design was submitted in 2006. But, the railways were demanding a change in the design which was not acceptable to the TRDCL. Now it has given an in principle nod to the GAD after suggesting some minor modifications,” Pillai said.

The two-lane ROB at Pettah is creating a bottleneck at the 9.5-km stretch from Airport to Asan Square developed as part of City roads improvement project (Crip). The ROB, which connects two junctions in the busy corridor, has been creating traffic jams due to the congestion at two-lane ROB. The Pettah ROB will be developed by constructing another two-lane ROB of 10.5 metre width, parallel to the existing ROB. Span width of new ROB will be 23 metre.

An official of TRDCL said a follow-up meeting will be held again at Chennai next week, where the officials will discuss the design in detail. However, the TRDCL officials said it would take minimum three months to get things rolling. “It would take some more time to finalize the design. Also the Kerala Water Authority must remove pipe from the stretch,” the official said.

Principal chief engineer M Satheesh, Southern railway chief bridge engineer Lalloo Singh, KRFB general manager Sudharshanan Pillai and officials of TRDCL and KRFB attended the meeting.

The one at Pettah is the single rail overbridge selected for Crip, which also involves development of five minor bridges, two flyovers and one underpass along with road widening.

Pvt tankers make most of pipe bursts

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: The recurrent pipe bursts not only brought prosperity to private contractors, but also to owners of private tanker lorries. The alternative water supply arranged by KWA during the pipe bursts in February-March has benefitted the private lorry owners. The Kerala Water Authority (KWA) is struggling with just four tanker lorries, two of which belongs to JICA-water supply scheme.

Last week, the revenue department passed a bill of Rs 4 lakh as payment for their services during the multiple pipe bursts on February 25 and the pipe bursts which followed. The private lorries carried more than 300 loads of water during the pipe bursts. Nearly 200 trips were conducted during the Attukal pongala alone.

Surprisingly, the KWA has not fixed any specific rate for tanker lorries. “The lorries were arranged by various government agencies during the crisis. That is the reason why there are different rates,” said a revenue official.

In addition to private lorries, tanker lorries of city corporation and fire and rescue service were roped in to supply water.

“Though pipe bursts have become a routine affair, the KWA did not bother to buy new tanker lorries to supply water to the affected areas. Instead of buying new vehicles for the officials, the KWA must buy tanker lorries, which could benefit public,” said a member of KWA employees union.

The capital city witnessed more than 10 pipe bursts in the last two months. Most bursts occurred on the 1200 mm diametre main transmission line bringing water from Aruvikkara to the city.

War of tweets over Tvm’s ‘notorious’ hosp ward

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: The once-notorious ninth ward of the general hospital here has triggered a war of tweets between Union minister of state for HRD Shashi Tharoor and marketing expert Suhel Seth.

Seth tweeted on Wednesday saying the patients in the 9th ward were locked up in inhuman conditions. Tharoor, who noticed the tweet, made a surprise visit to the ward.

The marketing expert’s tweet was to draw the attention of the media and the local MP, Tharoor, to the condition of the ward. Seth said that one of his friends, who had visited the general hospital, found the patients locked up in the ward and were treated like animals.

After his surprise visit, Tharoor tweeted that the condition of the ward was better than that of any other government hospital.

“The ‘locked’ patients are in a cell4psychiatric inmates awaiting transfer to the mental hospital. The locked cell is for their protection,” Tharoor said on Twitter. The ward has 15 nurses and eight doctors on duty, he added.

Tharoor, however, pointed out that there is only 40 beds for 84 patients.

Several of Seth’s followers on Twitter had responded to the tweet under the hash tag ‘Trivandrumshame.’

Even after Tharoor’s tweet, Seth maintained that his facts were correct. Seth, however, did not respond to TOI’s queries on the issue.

A reality check of the ward, carried out after the tweet, contradicted Seth’s tweet. The conditions of the once-pathetic ward for the destitute have improved following several news reports. The ward’s walls sported a fresh coat of paint, and the beds were covered with clean sheets.

It had been alleged earlier that patients in the ward were a neglected lot. The ward is now under CCTV surveillance, and it was learnt that the district medical officer, under specific order from the government, visited the ward every week.

Hospital sources claimed 20 more attenders were appointed to the ward in December last to take care of the patients.

Jayakumar commission still clueless about pipe bursts

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: The K Jayakumar commission, which probes into the controversial multiple pipe bursts on the eve of Attukal pongala, is puzzled about the unusual bursts even after conducting site inspection and hearings.

The panel will look into the possibilities of manipulation of valve and pressure variations, which create air entrapment in pipe. During the public hearing held at Aruvikkara on Thursday, Jayakumar, chairman of the panel, said external or internal reasons or a combination of both could have caused the bursts. The committee also expressed shock on the callous way the air valves are handled by the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) at several locations. Jayakumar told TOI that it was expected to take more than two weeks to submit the report.

“I was aghast to see the callousness with which KWA handles such vital installations,” said Jayakumar. He specifically pointed to the valve near the MP Thankamma Stadium at Peroorkada. The KWA officials, who attended the hearing, admitted that they had used to lock the valve chamber earlier. But, the new cast iron covers of valve chambers do not have a lock and key.

Jayakumar and other panel members said it is important to have more security for public utility services. “Now, anybody could access it. Miscreants could do anything,” Jayakumar said. One of the suggestions during the public hearing was to provide identity card or uniform for KWA labourers. “Nobody knows whether it is KWA workers or anyone else who is working at the valve,” said Vellanad Vishwam, a contractor, who attended the hearing. Only a few people turned up for the public hearing conducted by the probe panel.

Maintaining that a sabotage attempt was above their scope of knowledge, the engineers association said that turbulent flow of water will create pressure variation and it would cause air entrapment of different types such as air column, dissolved air and air in dispersed state. They said that air valve could not control these entrapped air and its worst combination could cause multiple pipe bursts.

There was an allegation that the pump operators lacked proper qualification. “They operated two pumps instead of one,” said Aruvikkara Thankappan, former panchayat member.

The commission accepted the argument of the engineers association that the pipe bursts could have occurred almost simultaneously, but might have reported at different times.

Though there were repeated requests from the commission, people who attended the hearing spoke more of general issues related to KWA than specific reasons or hypothesis on the multiple pipe bursts on February 25. Issues such as rudeness of contractors, contractor-employee nexus, irresponsible behaviour of daily wage labourers of KWA, etc. were raised.

Parents of N S Suresh, assistant excise commissioner, who was suspended for defying collector’s order to give his tanker lorries for distributing water, too attended the public hearing. Suresh’s father Natarajan submitted a petition to the commission alleging police harassment on the issue.

TDB land cleared for CRIP

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: After years of deadlock, the hurdle for acquisition of land belonging to the Tranvancore Devaswom Board (TDB) for the works of City roads improvement project (CRIP) has been cleared. The Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB) and TBD have reached a consensus on the compensation for handing over the 18 cents in possession of TDB. The KRFB will give 19 cents near Vikas Bhavan in lieu of 18 cents acquired from the board from various locations in the city.

Road widening was stalled at several places due to the delay in handing over TDB land at places, including land of Hanuman temple at PMG, Kammattam Maha Ganapathy temple near Eye Hospital Palayam, Devi Temple Shanghumukham and a stretch opposite to Ayurveda College. KRFB general manager N Sudharshan Pillai said the state cabinet has approved the decision to give 19 cents near Vikash Bhavan as compensation. Now, it is the district collector who must initiate actions, he said.

The officials of Thiruvananthapuram Road Development Company Limited (TRDCL), concessionaire of Crip, said they could continue the road widening works at small stretches at Shanghumugham and MG Road once the land was handed over to them.

The office-bearers of TDB too have confirmed the decision. “The board will take further decision on the land,” said TDB secretary Balachandran Nair.

Issues prevail: Though the KRFB claims to sort out most of the land acquisition issues, displacement of traders at East Fort still remains a major hurdle. The TRDCL has stopped the development of MG Road till Overbridge. If the stalemate over the land acquisition continues, the TRDCL will drop the widening of Overbridge-Attakulangara stretch. “The project is envisaged so as to bring a lasting solution to the flooding at East Fort,” TRDCL vice president Anil Kumar Pandala said.

Development of East Fort, one of the most crowded areas in the city, assumes more significance due to the rising popularity of Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple. A group of traders at Pazhavangadi-East Fort stretch have raised protest against displacement, which has been delaying the project for the past seven years.

E-shopper cash in on promotional offers

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: Online shopper is no longer a crazy shopaholic who buys anything and everything comes in front of him. Intelligent buyers are more in number than compulsive shoppers visiting online shopping sites these days. They are cashing in on the promotional offers of online sites.

With competition intensifying in the online shopping site segment, most of the players are now put forth seductive offers to sell. The only target will be to add hits and make sites popular. “The strategy is to adopt a no profit no loss stand initially to attract more customers. Often, they incur losses but view them as a publicity strategy,” said a software professional who was earlier part of an e-commerce website team.

Check out a user, who is a businessman in Thiruvananthapuram, who has created numerous user IDs. “Some online shopping sites use all the ways to woo new users to its site. The new user will have offers raining on him. So, more IDs means more offers. Thus we will get products even at 70 percent discount,” he said on condition of anonymity.

Sathyajith K, an online shopping buff, said he could win a deodorant worth Rs. 200 for just Rs 20 from infibeam.com last week. “I used to buy toiletries in much less price,” she said. “Some sites have offer starting from 12 midnight and continuing in wee hours. I and my brother, sometime wake up, early to check the offers of some sites like shopclues.com,” he said.

The term ‘new’ is always good in online shopping. Just as the new users get red carpet welcome, new websites are shoppers’ paradise. “New websites usually display a number of offers. In order to woo users to their site, they will exhibit attractive offers. The rate of discount will go down as the website gets older. So it is good to switch to new site. Only thing is that you must check whether the sites are genuine,” he said.

The customers also make use of daily, weekly deals where good offers are given during a particular time.

Krishna Kripal, a techie, who buys majority of products online, said it was important to know dos and don’ts of online shopping. “There is a forum of online shopper www.desidime.com, where one can get website reviews, product reviews, suggestions etc,” Kripal said. One of the interesting trends among online customers is that most share discount voucher codes through this forum. “If I have a flipkart voucher and another one have voucher for a gadget, we could exchange it according to the need,” he said.

Forum such as desidime.com have list of attractive offers, hot deals, cheapest products etc. The discussions in the forum also help online users to clear doubts, solve issues, check genuineness etc.

Kripal said he is into bulk purchase of consumer durables such as cosmetics, soaps, detergent etc. “Of the products, 75 percent will be useful and 25 percent can be used later,” he said. For Kripal, online shopping is more profitable. “I recently bought a mixie worth Rs 2600 by paing just Rs1500. You won’t get discount at this rate from shops,” he said.

Some online shopping sites also sell products on instalments. Most users interested in gadgets find this option attractive. Now profitability is placed above all other factors such as convenience, flexibility of time, and cash on delivery, which earlier attracted users to online sites. With the introduction of features like cash back offers, replacements etc, skepticism has vanished to thin air.

Prof. C Ganesh, head, department of Commerce, Kerala University, said online shopping sites take the maximum advantage of minimizing establishment cost to sell products cheaper. “They didn’t have the headache to maintain shops and employ many to run the business”, he said. According to Ganesh, a serious study on how the popularity of e-commerce sites would hamper the local merchants is yet to be carried out

Phase II of capital region development to begin soon

Jisha Surya / TNN

Thiruvananthapuram: Phase II of Capital Region Development Programme (CRDP) will begin with the widening of Maruthamkuzhy-Nettayam road. A high power committee chaired by chief minister Oommen Chandy has decided to take up four out of 10 projects under the programme this year.

The four projects include upgrading of roads, parking spaces, public spaces and planting more trees. According to Thiruvananthapuram development authority (Trida) chairman P K Venugopal, the works that begins this year include improvement of existing roads, construction of ring roads and link roads, preparation of parking policy and building parking places, environmental improvements of markets, shopping streets and parks and planting of one lakh saplings in five years.

“As an immediate step, we are planning to take up the widening of Maruthamkuzhy-Vattiyoorkavu-Nettayam road and improvement of Vattiyoorkavu junction. Meanwhile, water resources department will begin works to clean Parvathy Puthanar. Also 10,000 saplings will be planted in city limits this year,” said Venugopal. “Other projects will begin after conducting feasibility study,” he said.

The remaining projects in CRDP are cleaning of waterways and water bodies, improvement of connectivity (Broadband, WiFi, etc.), revitalization of heritage commission, highlighting of landmarks and introduction of music and art circuit, development of alternate source of energy, providing drinking water facility for all and 100% coverage of sewerage system.

“The 12-km Marutamkuzhy-Nettayam road will be made four-lane with a 19.6 metre width,” Venugopal said.

“As a first step of CRDP, we have assigned Centre for Management Development (CMD) to appoint transaction advisor for CRDP. The CMD has invited offers from competent consultancy firms for this the other day, Venugopal added.

Though a slew of projects were planned for the first phase, only City Roads Improvement Project (Crip) materialized. Crip, for the development of 42 km of city road, is at its fag end. However, other projects such as solid waste management, bus terminus at Enchakkal, flood prevention and beautification of the Karamana and Killi rivers and the Ulloor thodu, ecological restoration of the Parvathy Puthanar canal, are yet to be materialized.

Apart from Trida, all major government departments are part of CRDP. A cabinet sub-committee headed by chief secretary will review CRDP.

KWA to conduct trial to plug leaks in pipelines in city

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: Threatened by the looming drought condition, the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) is finding ways to tackle one of its major crisis – transmission loss. According to officials, 50% of water pumped from Aruvikkara is lost due to leakage at various points. As manual checking is practically impossible, the KWA is all set to introduce modern methods to identify the leaks.

Within two weeks, KWA will conduct trials of leak detection equipment at pipelines in the city. With technical support from Canada-based Pure Technologies, two inline leak detection equipment, Sahara and Smartball, will be tested. The trial will be held as part of non revenue water management of KWA.

“We are ready with the work plan. Once it is approved, the trials will start in two weeks. Further action will be formulated based on the result of trials. We are getting more offers form various companies. We will finalize only after considering its cost effectiveness and efficiency,” said a senior official of KWA. “Plugging leakages, especially at the time of a drought situation is extremely important,” he said.

“Both Sahara and Smartball work inline and detect leak from within. It will work without disrupting the transmission. The Smartball will move along with the water and detect leaks by sending variation of sound at the location. The Sahara has a small parachute, which helps in navigation, and its sensor will detect the leak,” the KWA official said.

The department also plans asset mapping in order to prepare drawings of transmission pipes. Some companies have approached KWA with equipment such as ground penetration radars which, in addition to locate leaks, also helps in creating asset mapping. “Some equipment could provide services such as leak detection and mapping. Such companies too are under consideration. For KWA, which laid several pipes for various projects, asset mapping will help in locating pipes,” he said.

HOW THEY WORK

Sahara

Insert sensor into transmission pipe.

A small parachute at one end will help its movement

The sensor is tethered to the surface, allowing for real-time results and maximum control and sensitivity

The surface tracking device will detect leaks

Smartball

Insert smartball into the pipe

It will travel with waterflow for up to 12 hours

The aluminium core of non-tethered form ball will detect acoustic activity associated with leaks

It is able to collect information about leak in a long pipe with a single deployment

Eve’s non-essentials…

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram

Some say Greed, some others say the pressure for meeting both ends meet in a challenging environment. Elders, however, point to the rapid erosion of values. The new role that is getting popular among young and educated women - of a crooked criminal in plainclothes - continues to be an enigma.

From Sherin Karnaver who meticulously planned and executed a scheme to finish of her father in law three years ago to Saritha S Nair who was caught early this month for duping investors for crores of rupees, smart young women are the latest sensation in the docks in our courts. A deadly cocktail of beauty and brains is clearly visible if one intersects each and every such case.

“It is a shame on womanhood. I personally don’t understand how can a woman be a fraud, the basic instinct of a women being goodness”, said Gurdeep Kour, secretary of Expressions India Society, an NGO working for women empowerment.

But, psychologists point to the fact that the concept of good and bad has undergone a sea chage over the last few years. “It is a clear indication of the lowering criminal threshold”, said psychologist Dr Krishna Prasad Sreedhar. “Erosion in ethics and value system has caused this. Money making and retaining power by hook or crook have become the priorities of today’s generation”, he said.

Advocate Sreeja Sasidharan, criminal lawyer at Thiruvananthapuram Bar, had to handle several cases which were stemmed from the women’s greed. “Obviously, there is a rise in number of such cases. There was one recent case in which a house maid was caught for stealing money. She did it as she wanted to imitate the lifestyle of her employer,” she said. Sreeja also said there are victims of situations. “Everywhere you could see busy women. Situation is such that women have so many responsibilities that sometimes they dare to go for quick money as there are no other ways,” said Sreeja.

However, Vigilance ADGP R Sreelekha, said this is not a new phenomenon. “Contrary to general belief, women’s presence is always there in crimes, let it be a daughter-in-law and mother-in-law fight or a sex racket operated by woman. Whenever women involve in crimes, they always enjoy strong support of some man. In fact, women are forced to commit the act by men in most cases”, she said. Sreelekha also pointed out that still the rate of crime committed by women is much below that of men. “If you compare, it will be just 1 in 100,” Sreelekha said.

While women like Saritha Nair and Leena Maria Paul who commit financial frauds in the open are more vulnerable, there are women criminal who sit behind veils in the cyber world. The anonymity and secrecy offered by latest technology has led more women to cyber crimes than to conventional ones. Vinayakumaran Nair, Assistant Commissioner, hi-tech cell of the Kerala police said that women are found to be involved more in cyber crimes mainly due to the anonymous nature of cyber space. “In cyber space, there is no need for a physical fight or a straight conflict. They have the wrong notion that they won’t get caught,” he said. Vinayakumaran Nair also supported Sreelekha’s argument that women mostly enjoy support of men in committing crimes.

Gurdeep Kaur suggested that the issue can be addressed only after assessing the social situation that lead more young women to crimes. “I feel women are used as a tool in committing crimes. In certain cases, some women in crime are found to have sexual relations with men who motivate them to commit the crime,” she said. In such cases, they will act as slaves of those men, she said.

Ends…

Corporation pond a breeding ground of mosquitoes

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: Not only the garbage heaps piled up at various spots in the city, but also the pond owned by the city corporation at Kowdiar has turned the public anger against the civil body this monsoon season. The pond adjacent to the Corporation boat club at Kowdiar has become one of the largest breeding ground for mosquitos in the area, thanks to the laxity of Corporation in maintaining the pond.

With the dumping of plastic waste by nearby flats and stagnation of unclean water, the pond has turned to be a major breeding ground for mosquitoes. Fever has been spreading in the neighbouring area. However, the city Corporation has not taken any vector control measures or steps to clean the water.

Kowdiar ward councillor S Sathikumari herself alleged that current state of the pond is a result of lackadaisical attitude of the Corporation. “Last year, I took initiative in cleaning the pond. The water was drained. But, it is back to the old state. Some are dumping waste near the pond. Waste water is sweeping in from nearby drain. Now it is stinking. I have informed the Corporation to do fogging and clean the pond,” said Satikumari.

The pond, which was neglected for years, was renovated during the tenure of last council using Rs 20 lakh. Footpaths and park were constructed near the pond. The water in the pond was cleaned last year using Rs 2.5 lakh fund allotted by the Corporation. However, no action was taken ahead of monsoon to clean the pond or to take vector control measures.

The pond is a stone’s throw away from residence of prominent personalities such as K Muralidharan MLA. It is also a favourite place for morning walkers. Now, with the rise of mosquito menace, morning walkers and children have abandoned the place.

Sathikumari had earlier sent a petition to the then Sports Minister K B Ganesh Kumar to renovate the pond as a swimming pool along with the waterworks swimming pool.

The city is witnessing a dry and sunny weather after a brief period of heavy rainfall. The situation is explosive as it is likely to help breed mosquitos and houseflies.

KWA squad unearths six more illegal water connections

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: The drought mitigation squad of Kerala Water Authority (KWA) has cracked six more cases of unauthorized water connections in the city. Weeks after unfolding a major nexus between consumers and plumbers at Sreekaryam, the squad identified five unauthorized connections at Vilavoor on Saturday.

The squad has sent report to KWA executive engineer against C J Plumping in Vilavoor for serving illegal connections to five households. “Decisions on suspending the licence of the plumber and slapping fine on consumers will be made on Monday,” said executive engineer.

The squad cracked another case of illegal water connection at Kowdiar on Friday. The squad, which went to check a pipe leak, has noticed a hose connected to a distribution line from a nearby under-construction house. The squad is planning to impose fine on the house owner, an NRI, who told them that he was unaware of the issue. “The water might have siphoned off from the distribution line by the contractor in charge of work. We are planning to slap a fine on the owner,” said a KWA official.

KWA has not tracked the plumber involved in the illegal act in Kowdiar. “The hose was connected through the drain in the area. The connection from the distribution line was severed years ago. We suspect that the construction workers might have noticed the leak and connected the hose to the distribution pipe to collect water. We are probing the issue in detail,” added the official.

The drought mitigation squad has found 19 illegal connections from the Sreekaryam, Chenkottukonam area last week. The squad cracked around 30 cases till this week. The squad formed to check illegal water connection and water theft during summer season, will wind up its operations by the end of this month.

Six consumers file complaint

Following the ultimatum served by KWA, six consumers of the total 19 consumers who were caught for illegal water connection by the drought mitigation squad have filed complaints against a plumber at the Kazhakoottam police station. The police have registered a case against Sreekumaran Nair, the plumber, under Section 420 of Indian Penal Code for cheating. Meanwhile, Sreekumaran Nair has approached the district sessions court seeking anticipatory bail. The KWA has earlier suspended the licence of Nair following the issue.

KWA to revive packaged drinking water scheme

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: Government plan to introduce CIAL-model company for supply of drinking water will not hamper Kerala Water Authority’s ambitious packaged drinking water scheme. According to officials of KWA, the packaged drinking water project, which was originally conceptualized in 2010, will be revived.

KWA MD Ashok Kumar Singh said the department will submit a revised estimate for the project. “We have decided to submit a revise the estimate of the packaged drinking water project, which was prepared in 2010. Earlier the budget was around Rs 5 crore. We will have to revise it as there were no takers for the tender floated by us. The estimated cost may be 10-11 crore,” he said.

KWA plan is to set up plant of capacity 7500 litres per hour at Aruvikkara. The plant will use Reverse Osmosis technology with UV and Ozone sterilization to produce quality packaged drinking water. According to KWA, the product will be available in sizes of 200ml pouch, 200ml, 500ml, 1 litre and 2 litre bottle and 20 litre refillable can.

KWA was planning to commission the packaged drinking water project in January 2011. But the project got stuck due to various reasons ranging from lack of technical expertise of contractors to poor budget.

Singh said that soon-to-be introduced Kerala Drinking Water Company will not bring any changed in the schemes planned by KWA. “We will continue with projects such as packaged drinking water scheme. In fact, the drinking water company will not have access to water sources already used by KWA,” Singh said.

Introduction of package drinking water by KWA is expected to bring an end to the monopoly of private companies, who charge exorbitant rate for packaged drinking water.

MLA, Trida chief bypass Natpac proposal for 30–metre road

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: A last minute intervention of Trida chairman P K Venugopal and Kazhakkoottam MLA M A Vaheed altered the original plan to develop the Kazhakkoottam-Kesavadasapuram in 30 metres. Instead, they proposed a 24 metres wide road.

The road widening, which needs to be completed before launching the monorail work, will now be carried out for the compromised width only. Top sources in the government told TOI that chief minister Oommen Chandy had to bow to the pressure exerted by local Congress leaders Venugopal and Vaheed in the high-level meeting held on Wednesday to finalize the widening of Kazhakkoottam-Kesavadasapuram road.

The widening of the road was suggested by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) when it carried out the feasibility study for monorail. Though 22 metre was the minimum width suggested by the DMRC to equip the road with monorail tracks on two-metre wide median in the middle of the road, Natpac, which conducted the feasibility study for road widening, suggested a 30-metre wide road.

“The new NH roads in the state will be of 45-metre width. The Karamana-Kaliyikkavila road is also going to be widened in 30 metres. The traffic along Kazhakkoottam-Kesavadasapuram road is too heavy during peak hours and we thought only a 30-metre wide road can do justice to city folks. Moreover, we planned the road by looking at the demand for another 50 years,” said an official involved with the feasibility study.

But, on Wednesday, local politicians succeeded in influencing the high-level meeting by arguing about the practical difficulties in land acquisition. “We can’t ignore the inconvenience caused by land acquisition to the public. Even the DMRC has asked for just 22-metre width. Unlike the Karamana-Kaliyikkavila NH, the Kazhakkoottam-Kesavadasapuram road has a six-lane NH bypass parallel to it,” said M A Vaheed. He said there is no need for service roads on either side. “Service roads are generally used for parking. Only the stretch between Sreekaryam and Kesavadasapuram is congested with parked vehicles. There we could propose construction of parking malls to resolve congestion,” he said.

Trida chairman P K Venugopal said land acquisition involves too much money and by reducing 30 metre to 24, they were able to save more than Rs 170 crore. “The proposed 24-metre width is more than enough and it could easily accommodate traffic for some years from now,” he said.

When asked whether any study was conducted to prove that 24 metre was enough for this busy stretch, Vaheed said DMRC report suggested that 22 metre was enough. “Natpac study proposes roads for the next 100 years. A 24-metre width will be enough for next 50 years,” Vaheed added.

The total cost of widening, including land acquisition, has been estimated at Rs 550 crore.

Global bid for monorail not ruled out, says minister

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: PWD minister V K Ebrahim Kunju on Friday said that Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) was selected as general consultants for the monorail projects in the state considering its ‘popularity’. He said it was people’s choice to appoint E Sreedharan as the head of the projects and the government took a stand ‘not to displease anyone’.

He was replying to TOI’s queries on the exorbitant consultancy fee demanded by the DMRC for Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode monorail projects. While the industry standard for monorail consultancy is only one to two per cent, DMRC demands 3.5% of the estimate as consultancy fee.

Kunju said the government has not ruled out the option of global competitive bid. “We have not ruled out option for global tender. We will consider that too in the full board meeting of Kerala Monorail Corporation Limited, which will be held on April 17,” the minister said.

When asked about the planning board advice to go for global bidding, the minister said he was yet to get the report. “We had asked for an advice from planning board. I haven’t received the file,” he added.

A senior official of the Kerala Monorail Corporation Limited said that fear of overcharging by private companies was one reason that prompted the KMCL to opt for DMRC as consultants. “If we go for global bid, we have to shell out huge amount in terms of consultancy fee. We will be missing an opportunity to get the work done in 3.5% consultancy fee,” the official said.

When pointed out that consultancy fee charged by Louis Berger group for Mumbai monorail project was just 1.5% of the total project cost, the KMCL official said that the scope for Mumbai monorail and state monorail projects was different. “As far as I know, Louis Berger group performs duties as a consultant before a turnkey consultant assumed charge. The DMRC, on the other hand, will be the turnkey consultant which performs consultancy as well as construction services,” the official said.

The KMLC official, however, admitted that DMRC’s demands such as 3.5 % consultancy fee, disagreement on inclusion of performance guarantee, time of payment etc were unacceptable. “Our duty is to negotiate terms with the DMRC. After the board meeting, we will submit a report to the government. The cabinet will take the final decision,” he said.

DMRC principal advisor E Sreedharan will attend the KMCL meeting on April 17.

KWA requests KRFB to take up pipe replacement work

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Water Authority’s (KWA) pipe replacement work continues to create hurdles for the proposed Thakarapparambu flyover project. One of the major works to replace 700 mm pipe will be completed in a week’s time. However, there were no takers for the tender floated by KWA to replace another 400 mm cast iron pipe. After floating two tenders, no contractors took the bid as the KWA rate was too low for them. Also, the contractors are hesitant to accept the work to lay distribution pipe at the Powerhouse Road.

Following this, KWA has approached Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB), the facilitator of City Road Improvement Project (Crip), requesting it to take up the work. “We received a request from KWA to take up the work at Powerhouse Road. We have not taken a decision so far,” said N Surendran Pillai, general manager KRFB.

A contractor said the work at the stretch was complicated and it would create huge loss if they accept the KWA rate. “There are numerous utility cables of BSNL and KSEB at the stretch. The 400-mm pipes were laid during the royal rule. It is very difficult to take up the works unless the KWA revised its rates,” said the contractor. Meanwhile, the 700-mm pipeline will be connected to the pipe in Thakarapparambu side in a week’s time.

Health minister V S Sivakumar inspected the site two weeks ago and asked the officials concerned to complete the works before March 31. As per the promise, the Thiruvananthapuram Road Development Company (TRDCL), concessionaire of Crip, was all set to resume piling works by first week of April. With the new developments, piling works will get delayed again. The construction of flyover has already affected the sales of shops at the Powerhouse Road, which is closed for the works. Without the hurdles, the flyover would have been completed in June.

The 510-metre Thakarapparambu flyover is the second grade separator in the city after Bakery Junction flyover. It will connect Powerhouse Road and Thakarapparambu Road crossing the MG Road.

Spend your vacation creatively

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: This summer, you don’t need to drag your child to boring hobby classes or personality development sessions. Vacation will be a thrilling experience for the students as a number of organisations are ready with a variety of summer camp sessions, ranging from robotics for your curious kid or a trekking for the little prankster?

For the robot-fans, Percogman Robotic Academy in Kesavadasapuram, is ready with summer training camp on robotics. Registration for students from Standard V to XII will begin by the first week of April. “There will be three sessions, each lasting for two and half hours, per day. There will be 16 sessions where they will be trained to design, build, program and run robots. Cost is Rs 3500,” said L M Rajesh of Percogman. “Our objective is to bring out at least one team from the state to participate in Indian Robotic Olympiad expected to be held in Coimbatore in June,” said Rajesh.

Parents who are planning to bring out a healthy kid during the vacation can opt for kids aerobics and yoga, offered by Power Gymnasium at Vellayambalam. The classes will commence on April 3. Children aged between 4 to 14 age group can attend the aerobics and yoga sessions, which costs Rs 4000.

For the adventurist in your child, Academy for Mountaineering and Adventure Sports is organising summer camps in every district. There will be five-day camps in Government Youth hostels in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode, which respectively begin on April 4, April 7 and April 15. The residential camps will have separate sessions for boys and girls aged between 10 and 17. Trekking, adventure sports, disaster management training are some of the programmes

The highlights of the summer camp at Goethe-Zentrum will be sessions to equip students make short film, design newspaper and capture sounds. Summer camp will be held between April 3 and May 11 at the Goethe-Zentrum, Palayam. The various sessions include film and video workshop, (where they students will be equipped to make a short film by themselves), newspaper production, Sound scaping (help to capture sounds of prominent locations), Animation, puppetry and German cooking. In an interesting session titled, My pets, children will be trained on how to deal with pets, mainly dogs.

The creative science workshop at Kerala State Science and Technology Museum will give students lectures and practical sessions on mathematics, chemistry, physics and biology. Also they will be exposed to astronomy, space science, environment, agricultural practices, communication techniques, nanotechnology, biotechnology, robotics etc. Fee is Rs 1500.

For older kids, Kerala state chalachitra academy is organizing a 10-day acting workshop in May. The admission is for college students aged 18 to 23 years. Stalwarts from Mollywood led by director Murali Menon will impart acting lessons to selected participants.

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Technopark gets boundary wall

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: Almost 18 years after it began functioning, Technopark has constructed a boundary wall around the campus. Unlike other Special Economic Zones (SEZ), Technopark lacked a fool proof boundary. The porous and small wall that existed almost 6 months ago had made way for several miscreants to the campus. Some of such incidents have led to Technopark general body to give permission to construct boundary wall along the entire 300 acre campus.

The new wall constructed is 4750 metre long, three metre high and have helical shaped barbed wires above it. The construction which began almost six months above has been completed now. The wall which existed at some stretches was below 1 metre high. “In some areas where the wall existed, it has been raised. New wall of 3 metre height was constructed at other stretches. The entire work cost Rs 1.6 crore,” said a Technopark official.

Construction of boundary has become crucial at a time when security system of Technopark receives flak. In surprise check conducted by law enforcement agencies recently, Technopark has failed to ensure foolproof security. With the construction of wall, authorities feel that they could give more emphasis on the security system at the gates.

In the previous years during events such as Tech-a-break, outsiders in inebriated conditions have created issues in the campus. Also cases of looting of helmet, petrol etc from motor bikes parked inside the campus too were reported.

However, construction of boundary wall was not smooth for the Technopark authorities. A group of locals led by Attipra councillor M S Sangeetha disrupted the construction recently demanding allocation of a road, drain etc for the people, who were once evicted for the construction of Technopark. “Around 21 families, mostly belong to daily wage labourers, who were evicted for the construction of Technopark are staying at Mulluvila near the Technopark. They are living in highly congested place and waste water from nearby hotels is flowing into their land. We demanded the park authorities to allot some land for widening the road and also to construct a drain. Technopark CEO Gireesh Babu has agreed to do so,” said Sangeetha.

Sangeetha, meanwhile, expressed concern over the construction of boundary wall as it causes water logging of the surrounding areas.

Group bicycle ride gets more followers

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: Trivandrum Bikers Club, formed by a group of bicycle enthusiasts, is inspiring more to use bicycle as a joyful mode of transport as well as tireless way of exercise. With routine Wednesday night rides and Saturday early morning rides, the club is become an ideal platform for bicycle lovers interested in rides in and around the city.

TBC is formed by the group of techies, Praveen R, Nishad KS, Deepu Mathew and Anoop Kutty, almost six months ago. More people joined the group through the facebook page of Trivandum Bikers Club. One of the specialities of TBC is group rides. “It is a group art. We won’t feel bored even after covering 20-50 km at a stretch,” said Praveen.

The Wednesday night rides are short distant rides through the city roads between 8 pm and 10 pm. The Saturday long distance rides begins at 4.30 or 5 am. The TBC has conducted around 28 long distance trips to areas such as Anchutengu, Attingal, Vizhinjam, Kovalam, Poovar, Mutalapozhi, Kadinakulam, etc.

Ahead of each ride, the TBC members upload details such as road map, time, contact details etc. “Sometime, we also give wake up calls to members,” said Praveen.

Any risk involved in group ride through busy roads? “We choose time where there is minimal traffic. We use reflectors in front and back of cycle, reflective vests and helmets,” said Praveen. In group ride, more the three riders never travel in a row.

Club has plans to sensitize authorities on need to have cycle tracks on major roads, cycle points at major junctions and refreshment room for cycle riders.

Most members of the group use gear cycles which cost more than Rs 25000. “Here people can’t think of spending more money on cycles. They feel that it is better to spend on bike than a bicycle. We aim to change this attitude,” Praveen said.

Praveen said women colleagues too are interested in joining the ride. The last two rides of TBC were revoked due to unexpected showers. The club is planning to have a revamp after monsoon.

ENDS

Mangoes carbide free, proves test

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: At least on the final day of National Mango Honey Festival, you can be sure that you are eating mangoes which are free from calcium carbide or other pesticides. A scientific test of the samples collected from the venue ruled out the presence of carbide and pesticides, much to the relief of organizers and visitors.

Samples of mangoes were collected for testing in a surprise raid conducted by the officials of Govt Agriculture College, Vellayani, the other day. According to the officials, the mangoes were tested negative for pesticide content.

The surprise raid was held on Wednesday when a team of experts led by Biju Mathew of College of Agriculture took mangoes randomly from three stalls. The mangoes were taken from stalls in Thiruvananthapuram mango growers’ association, Muthalamada stall and Kanyakumari mango growers’ association stall. The results came out on Friday and it was proved that the mangoes were not treated with pesticides or calcium carbide. Ten mangoes were taken from each stall for testing.

“Ahead of the event, we have made an agreement with the participating groups that they won’t use pesticides and calcium carbide for artificial ripening. They signed the agreement before participating in the event. Since there are various artificial practices, we took extra care to ensure that everything goes smoothly,” said project manager of the National Honey and Mango Festival Ajay Chandran.

It was a recent food safety raid held in Punalur in which truckloads of artificially ripened mangoes were seized that prompted the officials took extra care.

The 10-day event, which witnessed huge public participation, will conclude on Sunday. There were more than a dozen stalls of mangoes from various parts of south India. Not just for mangoes, visitors also made a beeline to buy saplings of mango trees at the venue.

Striking contractors agree to take up drought mitigation work

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: Ending the stalemate, Kerala Water Authority has floated tender for various drought mitigation works in the PH division, Thiruvananthapuram. The tenders were floated after striking contractors under the PH division agreed to do the drought mitigation works, the funds of some of which would have lapsed by this month end. The contractors are on a strike to end e-tendering in running contract system for more than a week. The contractors will continue abstaining from pipe maintenance work.

The government has released Rs 3.8 crore for the drought mitigation programme the deadline of which was set as June end. The first list of work, worth Rs 2.26 crore, has to be completed by May 31. The amount would have been lapsed if the contractors continued with the strike. The decision came after KWA officials held meeting with the members of All Kerala Water Authority Contractors Association (AKWACA) on Tuesday.

“A major problem has been solved. Now, we floated tender on Thursday. Works will be awarded by Monday. In order to expedite work, one contractor will be awarded only one work,” said KWA executive engineer Prakash Idicula.

One of the major works under drought mitigation programme is to lay distribution pipes in areas which are affected by drinking water crisis. “There are 77 works to lay distribution lines in various parts of the city. Pipes will be laid in 100-2000-metre length. Work is expected to complete in two weeks,” said Idicula.

KWA has already begun other drought mitigation programmes such as cracking down on water theft and maintenance of valves to divert water to areas facing water crisis. “We managed to begin these works with the support of our daily wage labourers and ‘Janakeeya samithis’,” he said.

Meanwhile, secretary of AKWACA N Siddharthan said they decided to take up drought mitigation work following request from politicians, including MLAs. “We are planning to intensify the strike in the coming days. If there is no decision on May 14, the strike will be extended to other parts of the state too. We will convene district-wise meetings in the coming days,” he said.

PASK fails to deliver project progress updates

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: The Project Status Alert System (PASK), a software of Kerala Water Authority (KWA) to provide progress updates of KWA’s ongoing projects via web and SMS, is more often than not failing to deliver the goods, thanks to the non-co-operation of KWA engineers.

Though the website, pask.kwa.gov.in, gives updates on various projects under KWA, consumers availing of the mobile subscription rarely get updates. Also, KWA has not included Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)- assisted water supply schemes in the PASK so far.

Users can subscribe the project status to their mobile by sending an SMS with the project code to 9220092200.

But non-co-operation of KWA engineers seems to sabotage the purpose of PASK. Officials in charge of PASK said each project engineer concerned is responsible for giving sms and web updates. “Most of them give the web updates, but they fail to deliver the SMS updates. We are planning to give instruction to the engineers to give at least one SMS per month,” said a PASK official.

However, Ashok Kumar Singh, MD, KWA, said the issue has not come to his notice. “PASK was introduced to give instant updates to the public. If it is not serving the purpose, the matter must be introspected. We will give instruction to officials regarding the issue,” Singh said.

Though KWA projects in all the 14 districts are enlisted in the PASK website, JICA-assisted water supply schemes are yet to be included in the site. “JICA projects are nearing completion in most part of the state, except Kozhikode. Still, we will ask the JICA officials to include them in PASK,” Singh said.

A PASK official said they had requested JICA officials to include the details in PASK. “Reports on JICA’s progress are frequently reviewed by the state government. We had sent requests to JICA officials to share the details of the projects in Thiruvananthapuram, Meenadu, Pattuvam, Kozhikode and Cherthala in PASK,” said the official.

PASK was introduced in November to bring more transparency to the projects of KWA and to make officials accountable. The projects which got administrative sanction are updated in the website. Nearly 200 project details are uploaded in the PASK so far.

Though there are updates of project status, other details like project review, photos, sketches, etc. are left blank in most pages.

Advance booking troubles jewellers

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: As the price of gold heads south and customers make a beeline to jewellery shops, gold merchants are feeling the heat. It is not the sudden plunge in price, but some schemes such as advance booking that worries them.

Bhima chairman B Govindan said that the plunge in gold price was a temporary phenomenon. However, he added that schemes such as advance booking might bring loss to the jewellers. “We don’t revoke the scheme for existing customers. Those who registered for advance booking will get the delivery as promised. But the scheme, which ensure minimum price for the customer, will bring loss to the jewellers,” he said. On whether they would continue with the scheme, Govindan said, “We will review the situation. A decision whether to continue or not will be made by the end of this week,” he said.

In the advance booking scheme adopted by leading jewellers, customers need to pay either the price at the time of booking or the price on the day when they take the delivery, whichever is the least.

Govindan said it was the right time for customers to purchase. “80 % of gold has been mined. Only 20 % remains. So definitely, the price will come up. This is a temporary phenomenon. It is the best opportunity for public to buy gold,” he said.

Ahammed Basheer, regional director of Malabar Gold, Kozhikode, said the current situation will not bring loss to jewellers as they rotate their stock periodically. “Now, people have a tendency to buy more gold in the form of coins and bullions. They also use the advance booking facility, which increases risk factor for jewelleries,” Basheer said.

The jewellers, however, said other schemes such as instalment facility for gold purchase are popular and it won’t bring any loss to the jewelers as it has been devised in a loss-proof manner.

KWA to give Aanathazhchira pond its lost glory

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Water Authority (KWA) will soon begin works to develop Aanathazhchira pond into a major rainwater harvesting pond covering almost 5 acres at a cost of Rs 2.10 crore.

“The work was awarded last week, which is expected to begin in a week. Work involves removal of mud from almost 5 acres. Bund will be constructed around the borders. We plan to complete the work in six months, provided there is no rain,” said D Sasikumar, assistant engineering, KWA.

The legend goes that an elephant and its mahout were drowned in the pond and hence it got the name Aanathazhcira. “It was such a big pond that people in and around the region depended on Aanathazhchira for drinking water. Due to failure in monsoon in the past several years and climatic changes, large part of the pond has been filled with mud and only around 5 acres remain as pond,” said Andoorkonam panchayat president Parampipalam Nisar.

Nisar, however, added that the current estimate of Rs 2.10 crore is insufficient to bring the pond to its old glory. “The KWA could only remove mud and construct bunds. To turn it into a rain harvesting pond would require more fund and efforts,” said Nisar.

The pond belongs to minor Irrigation department. It was on the request of Andorkonam panchayat that the KWA decided to develop and maintain the pond.

KWA hopes that they could turn the Aanathazhcira into a rainwater harvesting pond after next monsoon. The authorities feel that it could benefit more than 50,000 people in Andoorkonam panchayat and neighbouring areas such as Pothencode and Mangalapuram.

KWA shows yellow card to daily wage labourers in blue brigade

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: Unable to find an alternative, the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) has decided to temporarily put on hold its decision to terminate daily wage labourers from essential services such as helpline and blue brigade. However, the fate of these services, which put praiseworthy performance to manage crisis situation during the recent series of pipe bursts, is hanging in the balance as KWA has already taken decision to replace the daily labourers with permanent employees. The employees who face termination allege that KWA was acting at the behest of private contractors and was trying to sabotage the functioning of the services.

The employees, 10 from helpline and 25 from blue brigade, said they were not paid for the last month. Ironically, contractors are in charge of paying the daily labourers. “Sixty percent employees of the crisis managing wing are daily labourers who get Rs 290 per day. It was for the interest of the contractor that the KWA is terminating our contract. Contractors want to put an end to our reports against their failure in maintaining pipes,” said an employee of helpline service on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, KWA MD Ashok Kumar Singh said the decision was taken after noticing discrepancy in money spent on daily labourers. He also added that unbiased reports are not expected from daily labourers, who are paid by contractors. “So we have decided to replace them with permanent employees. But the helpline or blue briagde service will not be affected by the decision. Also we are not terminating them, but will try to accommodate them in other sections,” Singh said.

Annamma Alex, chief engineer in charge of HRD, said the decision had been put on hold in order to ensure smooth functioning of the department.

Meanwhile, some union members of KWA have approached the KWA MD asking him to revoke the decision. “Though we are against appointment of daily labourers, we cannot ignore services such as helpline and blue brigade. We have asked the MD to review the decision, which is apparently to help contractors,” one of the union leaders said.

Coloured bitumen to give city roads a new look

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: The city roads will soon have a better look. In a first-of-its kind initiative on public roads in the state, the Thiruvananthapuram Road Development Company Limited (TRDCL), concessionaire of the City Roads Improvement Programme (Crip) has decided to mark bus stops and pedestrian crossings with coloured bitumen. On a trial basis, red coloured bitumen paint will be used to mark the Kowdiar Narmada bus stop on Sunday.

Coloured bitumen is used in big cities like Mumbai to identify cycling tracks. TRDCL sources said it is for the first time that coloured bitumen is used to mark bus bays and zebra lines on public roads in India.

“ Coloured pedestrian crossings and bus stops will catch the attention of people easily. The coloured bitumen is successfully used in foreign countries,” TRDCL vice-president Anil Kumar Pandala said. The imported paint cost Rs 1,500 per sq metre.

The TRDCL will be experimenting with four colours of imported asphalt paint such as red, blue, yellow and green. Red colour is commonly used to identify bus stops, while yellow and green are used at pedestrian crossings. “The bitumen component in the paint gives the adhesive effect. That makes it long lasting,” Pandala said.

Once painted, it should be kept out of reach of vehicles for about 24 hours to get it fixed. Another 12 hours are required to fix the second coating. The TRDCL will check the technical and application difficulties of the work. “We first do the trail at Narmada bus stop. It was planned on Saturday, but postponed due to unexpected rain,” he said.

“The paint is expensive. But we want to do something which people like. We did some additional things under Crip such as construction of rose garden, beautification of traffic islands, renovation of Rama Rao lamp, etc. We are now planning to renovate the War Memorial at Palayam,” he added.

The proposal to use coloured bitumen was suggested some months ago. However, TRDCL was waiting to get the report of economic viability of the plan. The paints were imported from TRDCL’s parent company in Spain.



Coloured bitumen will be used to mark bus bays and zebra crossings

Borders of the bus bays in city roads will be painted with red bitumen while the surface inside where the bus parks will remain black. There will be borders with 15-metre length on three sides and the 30-metre long road will be the fourth side of the bus bay

On zebra crossings, the reflective white lines will remain the same while the black stripes in between will be replaced with Yellow or Green bitumen paint. The width of the white stripes will be 0.50 metre and that of the coloured stripes in between will be 0.15 metre.

No concrete plans to tackle key issues

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: The city corporation seems to have learnt no lessons from the past. The year that has gone by was a very eventful one with issues like the forced shutdown of the Vilappilsala garbage treatment plant, city getting the ‘Dengue capital’ title, the ‘Shawarma death’ which triggered a series of food safety issues and a failed monsoon, hogging the limelight.

However, the budget fails to put forward any concrete plan to tackle these issues. It also fails to give thrust to infrastructure development.

A multi-level parking complex, a promise that has remained on paper in the past years, resurfaced in the budget this time too. The amorphous project worth Rs 1 crore is not expected to bring respite to the city’s parking problems. An amount of Rs 50 lakh has been earmarked for an underpass and flyover, the locations of which are unidentified. Renovation of roads gets Rs 50 crore.

Ever since the Vilappilsala agitation became intense, mayor K Chandrika has been emphasizing that a centralized treatment plant was a necessity for a city like Thiruvananthapuram. However, the budget failed to give a viable option for the centralized garbage treatment plant. There was no major proposal for waste management except a Rs 4-crore project for decentralized schemes such as pipe compost and mini biogas plants, which is a continuation of existing project.

It could be said that the corporation was pre-emptive in suggesting Cafe Ananthapuri hotels in 2012, considering the series of food safety issues that occurred last year. But the suggestion remained on papers and made a re-appearance in this year’s budget also. The corporation’s concern for food safety issues were limited to suggestions for mobile Rasika outlets (Rs 25 lakh), the yet-to materialize Cafe Ananthapuri, a ‘fish for health’ scheme (Rs 25 lakh) which envisages mobile units for selling fresh fish and deep freezer facility for selected markets, and a meagre Rs 30,000 to provide training for hotel workers and awards for best hotels.

The Rs 50-lakh ‘Bye bye mosquito’ project plans to designate five Kudumbashree members in each ward for intensive dengue eradication drive. Nothing more than this routine exercise finds a place in the budget for ‘dengue capital’.

At a time when the city is facing an imminent drought, there is no plan in the budget for water supply, rainwater harvesting or drought mitigation schemes. ‘Sujaladhara’, a Rs 1-crore project for supplying drinking water to the Thiruvallam area, that finds a mention in the budget is old wine in new bottle.

Karshika Karma Sena scripts a success story

Jisha Surya

Thiruvananthapuram: The Karshika Karma Sena, launched in 2008 to augment agricultural activities in Kudappanakunnu grama panchayat here, has come a long way. The project, introduced by the local Krishi Bhavan, has scripted a success story by turning almost 250 hectares of barren land belonging to various government institutions into farmlands and inducing over 20,000 individuals to homestead farming.

The government now plans to extend the service to 85 more panchayats. The project even got a mention in the budget speech of finance minister K M Mani, who suggested that the Kudappanakkunnu model should be adopted by all Krishi Bhavans.

“From Cliff House to the collector’s bungalow, several pieces of government land have been turned into hi-tech farm lands, where we produce vegetables, banana and tuber crops. We also have over 20,000 individuals as regular customers, who get our support in supply of labourers, machinery, saplings, guidance etc,” sena coordinator Binulal K G said.

In the past five years, the sena has definitely brought about a change in perception about agriculture. “Our aim is to make agriculture a profit-making vocation and attract more youths to farming. Our trained labourers are known as agriculture technicians and their number has grown from eight to 100-odd now,” he said.

Those interested can call 0471-2731322 or 9447005998 and register themselves as a customer of the sena, which will send a supervisor to inspect the land and suggest the suitable cultivation. The sena will then prepare an estimate of the cost involved. It will send its labourers, machinery and other material if the customer agrees to the rate.

“The farmers get an estimate of the amount required for the work in advance. They can also avoid unnecessary spending. With the help of hi-tech farming, efficiency increases three-fold while the cost can be cut to one-third,” Binulal said.

The sena provides training to its customers besides providing regular ones with seeds and saplings free of cost.