Thiruvananthapuram: Even as Smart City Dubai last week served an ultimatum to the Kerala government saying the proposed Rs.1,500-crore Smart City Kochi cannot be kept hanging 'endlessly', a board meeting ended Wednesday with differences of opinion continuing between the two partners.
Emerging from the hour-long meeting, Smart City Kochi chairman and State Fisheries Minister S. Sarma told reporters that talks would continue.
'You know there are differences of opinion between us and Smart City Dubai. The chief minister is out of station, and once he returns, we will brief him about what happened today and a date for another round of discussion would be decided,' said Sarma.
Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan had in November 2007 laid the foundation stone for the mega IT park at Kochi -- to be built by Smart City Dubai -- which will come up on a 246-acre plot and is expected to create 90,000 jobs.
But since then, nothing has moved with differences cropping up over granting of 12 percent freehold rights to Smart City Dubai.
While the Dubai partner wants a written agreement that this would be given after the master plan is ready, the government is not ready to give inalienable rights to them.
Fareed Abdulrahman of Smart City Dubai, who is also Smart City Kochi chief executive, said his company wished to make it clear that it did not want freehold land immediately, but only after the master plan was prepared.
'We will make it happen, we will make it happen,' Abdulrahman said.
With both parties hopeful of resolving the issues, it now remains to be seen when the next meeting takes place.
Friday, December 25, 2009
KPCC should meet to discuss Murali issue: Karunakaran
hiruvananthapuram: Seeking to give a push for his son Muraleedharan's re-entry into the Congress, veteran party leader K Karunakaran today said the KPCC executive meeting should be convened soon to decide the issue. Speaking to reporters here, he said he had taken up the issue when Opposition Leader Oommen Chandy and KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala met him yesterday.
The nonagenarian leader had recently written to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, seeking her intervention to get Muraleedharan, a former KPCC President, re-admitted.
After his exit from Congress,Muraleedharan had joined NCP, but quit the party and has sought re-entry to the Congress. He also met party high command leaders in Delhi more than once and requested them to consider his plea.
Stating that he was not part of any group now, Karunakaran said he had asked both Chandy and Chennithala not to support any group in the party.
He termed as not true, Chennithala's comment that the Muraleedharan issue was not discussed at the meeting with him.
The nonagenarian leader had recently written to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, seeking her intervention to get Muraleedharan, a former KPCC President, re-admitted.
After his exit from Congress,Muraleedharan had joined NCP, but quit the party and has sought re-entry to the Congress. He also met party high command leaders in Delhi more than once and requested them to consider his plea.
Stating that he was not part of any group now, Karunakaran said he had asked both Chandy and Chennithala not to support any group in the party.
He termed as not true, Chennithala's comment that the Muraleedharan issue was not discussed at the meeting with him.
264,000 South Asians lost jobs in Gulf: Survey
Thiruvananthapuram: About 264,000 people from South Asia have lost jobs in the Middle-East on account of the global meltdown, city-based think tank Centre for Development Studies (CDS) has found.
Presenting the study here Monday, S. Irudayarajan and D. Narayana of CDS said the financial crisis that originated in the US impacted the Gulf Cooperation Council countries soon after.
'The impact of the global crisis on the Gulf Cooperation Council ( GCC) economies has been analysed in terms of sectors affected and changes in GDP growth and employment of expatriate labourers,' said Irudayarajan.
Study teams visited the six GCC countries and Malaysia to interview labourers as well as employers in various sectors.
It found that the global crisis affected the GCC economies by impacting oil prices, depressing property and equity prices, lowering investor confidence, and reversing of capital flows.
The study was funded by the Asian Development Bank, the overseas Indian affairs ministry, the central government and the state government's Department of Non-Resident Keralite Affairs.
It found out that the construction boom in GCC countries has come to a halt with 20-30 percent of bookings getting cancelled, the bulk of it in Dubai.
The phenomenal growth in employment over the past five or six years has come to a halt and about 40 percent of workers affected.
Expatriates did not leave in large numbers, the study noted, but added that there were salary cuts, freezing of increments, and scrapping of benefits and perks.
'We found that about 61,000 emigrants from Kerala have returned,' said Irudayarajan. 'Applying the methodology of the Kerala resurvey to South Asia as a whole, the return emigrants from the Gulf are estimated to be a maximum of 264,000.'
Ironically, the study said, despite the crisis and job loss, demand for expatriates continues in the Gulf as is evident from the outflow of migrant workers from South Asia.
Except for a 35 percent fall in numbers from India, the flows in 2009 are comparable to those in 2008. But the direction of flow has changed, with UAE attracting less number of labourers whereas there is hardly any change for Saudi Arabia.
Presenting the study here Monday, S. Irudayarajan and D. Narayana of CDS said the financial crisis that originated in the US impacted the Gulf Cooperation Council countries soon after.
'The impact of the global crisis on the Gulf Cooperation Council ( GCC) economies has been analysed in terms of sectors affected and changes in GDP growth and employment of expatriate labourers,' said Irudayarajan.
Study teams visited the six GCC countries and Malaysia to interview labourers as well as employers in various sectors.
It found that the global crisis affected the GCC economies by impacting oil prices, depressing property and equity prices, lowering investor confidence, and reversing of capital flows.
The study was funded by the Asian Development Bank, the overseas Indian affairs ministry, the central government and the state government's Department of Non-Resident Keralite Affairs.
It found out that the construction boom in GCC countries has come to a halt with 20-30 percent of bookings getting cancelled, the bulk of it in Dubai.
The phenomenal growth in employment over the past five or six years has come to a halt and about 40 percent of workers affected.
Expatriates did not leave in large numbers, the study noted, but added that there were salary cuts, freezing of increments, and scrapping of benefits and perks.
'We found that about 61,000 emigrants from Kerala have returned,' said Irudayarajan. 'Applying the methodology of the Kerala resurvey to South Asia as a whole, the return emigrants from the Gulf are estimated to be a maximum of 264,000.'
Ironically, the study said, despite the crisis and job loss, demand for expatriates continues in the Gulf as is evident from the outflow of migrant workers from South Asia.
Except for a 35 percent fall in numbers from India, the flows in 2009 are comparable to those in 2008. But the direction of flow has changed, with UAE attracting less number of labourers whereas there is hardly any change for Saudi Arabia.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Unnithan suspended from Cong, says was trapped
Manjeri : Rajmohan Unnithan, a senior Congress leader in Kerala, was Monday given bail, a day after he was held allegedly for immoral trafficking. However, he was suspended from the Congress party pending further enquiry. The leader, however, insists he was trapped with a woman by ruling party activists and their allies.
Unnithan and the woman, who is said to be a Congress Seva Dal worker, were first confronted by locals Sunday night at a house here in Malappuram district. The woman hails from Kollam, Unnithan's hometown.
Police later took them into custody and subjected them to medical tests. After being kept in the police station for the night, both were taken before the Manjeri first class judicial magistrate, who granted them bail, officials said.
Unnithan is the general secretary of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee. The party has suspended him and initiated an inquiry into the incident.
After the bail, Unnithan told reporters he was trapped by activists of the People's Democratic
Party (PDP) and the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).
'I was on my way to Bangalore and en route went to drop the lady who is an active Seva Dal worker. When i reached the home, a lot of PDP and DYFI workers collected around the house and started creating trouble. I only called the police. But they were demanding that TV channels be called,' Unnithan said.
'I have done no wrong and I believe in God. I will request my party to launch an inquiry into the episode. I am clean and have done no wrong,' added Unnithan.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Abdul Kareem told IANS that the two were charged with immoral trafficking.
'They were picked up last night (Sunday night) from a house. Today (Monday) the court has given them bail,' said Kareem.
As word spread that a senior Congress leader had been caught, members of the CPI-M youth wing began shouting slogans in front of the police station, demanding that immediate action be taken against Unnithan.
Unnithan and the woman, who is said to be a Congress Seva Dal worker, were first confronted by locals Sunday night at a house here in Malappuram district. The woman hails from Kollam, Unnithan's hometown.
Police later took them into custody and subjected them to medical tests. After being kept in the police station for the night, both were taken before the Manjeri first class judicial magistrate, who granted them bail, officials said.
Unnithan is the general secretary of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee. The party has suspended him and initiated an inquiry into the incident.
After the bail, Unnithan told reporters he was trapped by activists of the People's Democratic
Party (PDP) and the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).
'I was on my way to Bangalore and en route went to drop the lady who is an active Seva Dal worker. When i reached the home, a lot of PDP and DYFI workers collected around the house and started creating trouble. I only called the police. But they were demanding that TV channels be called,' Unnithan said.
'I have done no wrong and I believe in God. I will request my party to launch an inquiry into the episode. I am clean and have done no wrong,' added Unnithan.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Abdul Kareem told IANS that the two were charged with immoral trafficking.
'They were picked up last night (Sunday night) from a house. Today (Monday) the court has given them bail,' said Kareem.
As word spread that a senior Congress leader had been caught, members of the CPI-M youth wing began shouting slogans in front of the police station, demanding that immediate action be taken against Unnithan.
Kerala Cong leader held, suspended for ‘immoral act’
Dec 22, 2009
Thiruvananthapuram:Cong leader Unnithan held for 'indulging in immoral activity'
AICC member and prominent Congress leader in Kerala Rajmohan Unnithan was arrested on charges of alleged immoral activity at Manjeri in Malappuram district on Monday. Later, a local court granted him bail. Late in the night, Congress state president Ramesh Chennithala suspended Unnithan pending an inquiry by senior leader N P Moitheen.
Unnithan, known for his acerbic attack on rivals, was found along with a Congress Seva Dal activist in a house at Manjeri at 11 pm on Sunday. Local people, mainly comprising activists of CPM and People’s Democratic Party, cordoned off the house and informed the police.
Both were taken to the police station, where they were slapped with various sections of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act. Both Unnithan and the woman are from Kollam district. Unnithan said he was on his way to Bangalore to meet his son. The woman was picked up from her house in Kollam . “I had gone to the house at Manjeri only to drop her. She runs a tailor shop there. Senior Congress leaders should probe the incident, which was scripted by the CPM and PDP,” said Unnithan.
Thiruvananthapuram:Cong leader Unnithan held for 'indulging in immoral activity'
AICC member and prominent Congress leader in Kerala Rajmohan Unnithan was arrested on charges of alleged immoral activity at Manjeri in Malappuram district on Monday. Later, a local court granted him bail. Late in the night, Congress state president Ramesh Chennithala suspended Unnithan pending an inquiry by senior leader N P Moitheen.
Unnithan, known for his acerbic attack on rivals, was found along with a Congress Seva Dal activist in a house at Manjeri at 11 pm on Sunday. Local people, mainly comprising activists of CPM and People’s Democratic Party, cordoned off the house and informed the police.
Both were taken to the police station, where they were slapped with various sections of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act. Both Unnithan and the woman are from Kollam district. Unnithan said he was on his way to Bangalore to meet his son. The woman was picked up from her house in Kollam . “I had gone to the house at Manjeri only to drop her. She runs a tailor shop there. Senior Congress leaders should probe the incident, which was scripted by the CPM and PDP,” said Unnithan.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Kerala’s terror trail
December 18th, 2009
With the exposure of the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) in north Kerala and finger of suspicion pointing to People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader and Islamist extremist Abdul Nasser Madani’s wife Sufiya, the politicians of Kerala are in a rush to prove their innocence. Nasir Tadiyandavede and his brother-in-law Shafaz Shamsuddin are both from Kannur in Kerala and are accused of carrying out the July 25, 2008 Bengaluru serial blasts with funding and instructions from the LeT.
Remember how the same politicians, in almost one voice, had moved the Kerala Assembly to ask the Tamil Nadu government to release the same Madani from Coimbatore prison where he was facing trial in the serial bombing case of 1998, set up to assassinate the BJP leader, Mr L.K. Advani. When finally Madani was able to win acquittal in the case, the same leaders from both the Left Front and the Congress made a beeline to the airport to receive him and even gave him a public reception.
After cosying up to the PDP leader in the May general elections, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader and Kerala home minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan staged a protest and declared that his department would not interfere with the ongoing police investigations into Sufia Madani’s alleged role in various terrorist activities.
The lady has sought anticipatory bail as the Kerala police was closing in upon her for allegedly directing the Tamil Nadu bus burning in Kalamassery, Kerala.
T. Nasir, yet another alleged kingpin in the terror machine, now held between the Karnataka and Kerala police on suspicion of multiple roles in the serial bombing incidents in Bengaluru and the detailed plans to blow up several places in Kerala and elsewhere, has turned out to be a major LeT operative in the state.
He has confessed to receiving funds from Pakistani agencies. Nasir had been the key LeT operative recruiting Muslim youngsters from Kerala to join the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Indian security forces, after gunning down five infiltrators in Jammu and Kashmir, busted the LeT activity that had been on for years, especially in Kannur in north Malabar — hotbed of the Communists where CPI(M) cadres have killed several RSS, Congress and other political workers.
In Kerala politics, the CPI(M) had long been suspected of supporting Islamic radicals. The revelations of Nasir only strengthen those suspicions.
Nasir’s activities for the LeT were widespread. He recruited young people for militancy in Kashmir. He conducted camps at many places where young people from his community were brainwashed and even trained in arms and bomb-handling.
For some years this went on and the Kerala police had little hint about them. When the police managed to locate Nasir after he conducted a camp at Vakathanam, near Kottayam in central Kerala, political interference prevented the police from following the trail.
The busting came only after four of the five militants killed in Kashmir were found to be from Kerala. The security forces there suspected that the fifth man had escaped. He was Jabbar, ultimately traced to Hyderabad.
The Central government’s instructions to the Kerala police to track this recruitment forced the Left Democratic Front state government to track down Nasir. He escaped while being led away by the police. Surely there was complicity at some level from powerful politicians that enabled him to escape from a posse of 100 policemen.
State home minister Balakrishnan now claims that he had informed the Research and Analysis Wing last April itself that Nasir had escaped to Bangladesh. The state home minister blames political rivals for drumming up a controversy over handling of terrorists.
In Kerala, the UDF and LDF are winning power and losing it by turn with clockwork regularity. It was during the UDF rule that Nasir-led terrorists burnt the Tamil Nadu bus to protest the Chennai government’s refusal to release Madani on parole from Coimbatore.
Many other terrorist acts took place during UDF rule. So, there is perhaps little to choose between the UDF and the LDF. Both are more concerned with their vote banks among Muslims rather than public safety against terror attacks.
Nasir was finally located in Bangladesh. The charges against this LeT operative are many. He is accused of not only recruiting for the militant cause but also actively helping militant activity in India. His most daring act was to steal 200 kg of ammonium nitrate, a potent bomb-making material, from an Alwa-based explosives shop. This material was used to fuel several bomb attacks in Kerala, Bengaluru, as well as in other cities.
Another mystery behind the whole series of events is that the explosives shop owner who had reported the theft of ammonium nitrate etc from his shop soon withdrew his complaint. The Kerala police also did not pursue the case effectively. Who was behind this complete lack of responsible behaviour on the part of the security forces is a matter to be found out. Sources say if this is investigated, further linkages of Pakistan-based terror organisations with some key Kerala politicians would be exposed.
Where does this cascade of revelations and finding of large quantities of explosive material lead to? Kerala, especially the Muslim-concentrated northern part of it, was yet another breeding ground of terror with organic linkages to LeT in Pakistan and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) in Bangladesh. The same part of Kerala is also a pocket borough of the CPI(M).
The CPI(M) might now declare itself untainted by terror and communal extremism. But the finger of accusation and mound of evidence point as much to it as they do to Madani and Nasir and a host of others. The prevalence of this politician-extremist-linked fifth column within — Kannur, Hyderabad, Azamgarh, the trail goes to Kashmir — forms a huge question mark before the country.
With the exposure of the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) in north Kerala and finger of suspicion pointing to People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader and Islamist extremist Abdul Nasser Madani’s wife Sufiya, the politicians of Kerala are in a rush to prove their innocence. Nasir Tadiyandavede and his brother-in-law Shafaz Shamsuddin are both from Kannur in Kerala and are accused of carrying out the July 25, 2008 Bengaluru serial blasts with funding and instructions from the LeT.
Remember how the same politicians, in almost one voice, had moved the Kerala Assembly to ask the Tamil Nadu government to release the same Madani from Coimbatore prison where he was facing trial in the serial bombing case of 1998, set up to assassinate the BJP leader, Mr L.K. Advani. When finally Madani was able to win acquittal in the case, the same leaders from both the Left Front and the Congress made a beeline to the airport to receive him and even gave him a public reception.
After cosying up to the PDP leader in the May general elections, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader and Kerala home minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan staged a protest and declared that his department would not interfere with the ongoing police investigations into Sufia Madani’s alleged role in various terrorist activities.
The lady has sought anticipatory bail as the Kerala police was closing in upon her for allegedly directing the Tamil Nadu bus burning in Kalamassery, Kerala.
T. Nasir, yet another alleged kingpin in the terror machine, now held between the Karnataka and Kerala police on suspicion of multiple roles in the serial bombing incidents in Bengaluru and the detailed plans to blow up several places in Kerala and elsewhere, has turned out to be a major LeT operative in the state.
He has confessed to receiving funds from Pakistani agencies. Nasir had been the key LeT operative recruiting Muslim youngsters from Kerala to join the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Indian security forces, after gunning down five infiltrators in Jammu and Kashmir, busted the LeT activity that had been on for years, especially in Kannur in north Malabar — hotbed of the Communists where CPI(M) cadres have killed several RSS, Congress and other political workers.
In Kerala politics, the CPI(M) had long been suspected of supporting Islamic radicals. The revelations of Nasir only strengthen those suspicions.
Nasir’s activities for the LeT were widespread. He recruited young people for militancy in Kashmir. He conducted camps at many places where young people from his community were brainwashed and even trained in arms and bomb-handling.
For some years this went on and the Kerala police had little hint about them. When the police managed to locate Nasir after he conducted a camp at Vakathanam, near Kottayam in central Kerala, political interference prevented the police from following the trail.
The busting came only after four of the five militants killed in Kashmir were found to be from Kerala. The security forces there suspected that the fifth man had escaped. He was Jabbar, ultimately traced to Hyderabad.
The Central government’s instructions to the Kerala police to track this recruitment forced the Left Democratic Front state government to track down Nasir. He escaped while being led away by the police. Surely there was complicity at some level from powerful politicians that enabled him to escape from a posse of 100 policemen.
State home minister Balakrishnan now claims that he had informed the Research and Analysis Wing last April itself that Nasir had escaped to Bangladesh. The state home minister blames political rivals for drumming up a controversy over handling of terrorists.
In Kerala, the UDF and LDF are winning power and losing it by turn with clockwork regularity. It was during the UDF rule that Nasir-led terrorists burnt the Tamil Nadu bus to protest the Chennai government’s refusal to release Madani on parole from Coimbatore.
Many other terrorist acts took place during UDF rule. So, there is perhaps little to choose between the UDF and the LDF. Both are more concerned with their vote banks among Muslims rather than public safety against terror attacks.
Nasir was finally located in Bangladesh. The charges against this LeT operative are many. He is accused of not only recruiting for the militant cause but also actively helping militant activity in India. His most daring act was to steal 200 kg of ammonium nitrate, a potent bomb-making material, from an Alwa-based explosives shop. This material was used to fuel several bomb attacks in Kerala, Bengaluru, as well as in other cities.
Another mystery behind the whole series of events is that the explosives shop owner who had reported the theft of ammonium nitrate etc from his shop soon withdrew his complaint. The Kerala police also did not pursue the case effectively. Who was behind this complete lack of responsible behaviour on the part of the security forces is a matter to be found out. Sources say if this is investigated, further linkages of Pakistan-based terror organisations with some key Kerala politicians would be exposed.
Where does this cascade of revelations and finding of large quantities of explosive material lead to? Kerala, especially the Muslim-concentrated northern part of it, was yet another breeding ground of terror with organic linkages to LeT in Pakistan and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) in Bangladesh. The same part of Kerala is also a pocket borough of the CPI(M).
The CPI(M) might now declare itself untainted by terror and communal extremism. But the finger of accusation and mound of evidence point as much to it as they do to Madani and Nasir and a host of others. The prevalence of this politician-extremist-linked fifth column within — Kannur, Hyderabad, Azamgarh, the trail goes to Kashmir — forms a huge question mark before the country.
Lavlin case: Government submits affidavit in SC
New Delhi: Kerala Government submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court against the Governor's decision to allow prosecution in the SNC Lavalin graft case.
According to the affidavit, Governor's decision to sanction the prosecution of CPM State secretary Pinarayi Vijayanis unconstitutional as it was against the Government's recommendation.
Chief Secretary K Jayakumar represented for the government in the court submitted the affidavit, which justifies the government's stand in the case. Government took the decision after seeking the legal advice from advocate general and examining the documents of CBI. Howewer, Governor's action was against the recommendation of Government, said in the affidavit.
According to the affidavit, Governor's decision to sanction the prosecution of CPM State secretary Pinarayi Vijayanis unconstitutional as it was against the Government's recommendation.
Chief Secretary K Jayakumar represented for the government in the court submitted the affidavit, which justifies the government's stand in the case. Government took the decision after seeking the legal advice from advocate general and examining the documents of CBI. Howewer, Governor's action was against the recommendation of Government, said in the affidavit.
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