Kochi Apr 22 PTI The woman crew member of a Seychelles Coast guard ship who was evacuated to Kochi after she reported a health problem has departed for her native country after full recovery the Indian Navy said on Friday The Indian Navy had on April 14 evacuated a crew member of a Seychelles Coast Guard ship when the vessel was on a voyage from Kochi to Victoria in the island nation Post treatment at INHS Sanjivani in Kochi after medical evacuation by the Indian Navy from sea the woman crew member of the Seychelles Coast Guard Ship SCGS Zoroaster has departed for Seychelles after full recovery the Navy said in a release The Navy said the patient was discharged from INHS Sanjivani after a complete recovery on April 21 The Medical Evacuation from mid sea has further enhanced the bilateral relations between the two countries The Chief of Naval Staff of Indian Navy Admiral R Hari Kumar is presently on a visit to Seychelles from April 21 to 23 to further cement the ties between India and Seychelles the Navy said The Navy on April 14 said the SCGS Zoroaster which was transiting from Kochi to Seychelles under the escort of INS Sharda reported that a crew member was experiencing abdominal pain The medical officer onboard the Indian Naval ship was transferred by boat for an initial medical examination Once the crews condition was stabilised she was brought to INS Sharda for additional medical care it said Subsequently an Indian Navy Advanced Light Helicopter ALH carried out medical evacuation of the patient from INS Sharda operating off Minicoy in Lakshadweep to INHS Sanjivani Naval Hospital for further treatment PTI RRT RRT HDA HDA

Thiruvananthapuram Mar 28 PTI Hours after the Kerala High Court directed the Left administration in the state to take steps to prevent its employees from abstaining from duty as part of the two-day nationwide strike the government on Monday issued a dies-non order Chief Secretary V P Joy in an order said the unauthorised absence of employees participating in the strike will be treated as dies-non under Rule 14 A of Part 1 of Kerala Service Rules As per Rule 14 A of Part I of Kerala Service Rules the period of unauthorised absence of an officer on account of participation in a strike shall be treated as dies-non no work no pay The order also said no leave of any kind will be granted to government employees unless there is sickness of the individual or relatives like wife children father and mother The order also said the district collectors heads of departments district police chiefs etc will take action to give protection to those not on strike and to ensure unhindered access to government offices and institutions and to avoid overcrowding in front of the gates of the offices The government order noted that the High Court has declared the ongoing strike as illegal and directed the government to prevent employees from engaging in strikes The High Court has directed the LDF government to prevent its employees from abstaining from duty as part of the two-day nationwide strike The court said government servants should not engage in any concerted or organised slowdown of work A Bench of Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly directed the state to also issue orders enabling the operation of vehicles so that employees can report for duty The strike -- on March 28 and 29 -- has been called by the joint platform of central trade unions against the anti-worker anti-farmer anti-people and anti-national policies of the central government The first day of the hartal was near total in the state PTI RRT RRT HDA HDA

Thiruvananthapuram Mar 26 PTI Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday called for observing Earth Hour and said it would be a humble step to create awareness against climate change Vijayan in a tweet asked people to observe Earth Hour by switching lights off till 930 pm EarthHour starts at 830 pm today Lets stand united for the home we all share and observe earth hour by switching lights off till 930 pm It would be a humble step to create awareness against the biggest peril we all face climate change Vijayan tweeted Earth Hour is an endeavour of the World Wide Fund for Nature WWF to raise awareness of nature loss and climate change -- the two biggest threats facing the planet People across the globe observe Earth Hour by turning off lights between 830 pm and 930 pm on the last Saturday of March PTI RRT RRT HDA HDA

Thiruvananthapuram Mar 25 PTI Spanish movie Clara Sola directed by Nathalie lvarez Mesn bagged the prestigious Suvarna Chakoram The Golden Crow Pheasant award in the 26th edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala IFFK that concluded on Friday The movie questions the traditional norms set by the patriarchal social order Argentinian director Ins Barrionuevo bagged the Rajata Chakoram The Silver Crow Pheasant for Best Director for his movie Camila Comes Out Tonight that successfully articulates gender politics and body politics The eight-day-long festival which enthralled movie enthusiasts across the world premiering over 170 movies concluded today The festival announced that the award for the best debut director from India will be shared equally by Not the River Jhelum Be Ches Ne Veth directed by Prabhash Chandra and Forbidden Nishiddho directed by Tara Ramanujan Network for Promotion of Asian Cinema NETPAC Award for the Best Asian Film was bagged by Pebbles Koozhangal by Vinothraj P S for depicting the harsh life of the marginalised the troubled relationship between father and son and their difficult journey through the stark landscape The Arbit Documentation of an Amphibian Hunt Aavasavyuham by Krishand bagged the NETPAC Award for the Best Malayalam Film for showing the synergy between nature and humans societal issues and bringing together documentary and fiction State Finance Minister K N Balagopal inaugurated the closing ceremony of the 26th IFFK in which well-known writer T Padmanabhan was the chief guest Addressing the crowd Padmanabhan asked the state government to release the Hema committee report on the problems faced by women in the film industry The Hema committee was formed in 2017 to study the problems faced by women in the film industry The committee had recently submitted its report to the government after recording statements of around 60 actors The report is not released in public yet Padmanabhan also praised the survivor of a sexual assault case in which actor Dileep is an accused for her public appearance in the IFFK inaugural stage PTI RRT RRT HDA HDA

Thiruvananthapuram Mar 19 PTI The KIMSHEALTH has launched a subsidised paediatric liver transplant project to help children of financially-stressed families suffering from serious liver disorders to return to a healthy life The scheme Sparsham was inaugurated by actor and legislator Mukesh at a function held at KIMS hospital here on Saturday Mukesh said the scheme conveys a great message of how top healthcare institutions can help address serious illnesses faced by children especially those from financially disadvantaged background A healthy life should be our motto and the liver transplant scheme of KIMSHEALTH to bring children back to normal life is a good model of corporate social responsibility for all he said The hospital in a release said Sparsham puts across the humanitarian message that money should not be a constraint for getting high-end medical care KIMSHEALTH is committed to perform liver transplant of children from financially-stressed families through this initiative Successful liver transplant will help suffering children live a healthy life Dr M I Sahadulla Chairman and Managing Director of KIMSHEALTH said Dr G Vijayaraghavan Vice Chairman of KIMSHEALTH said liver transplant procedure takes 12-14 hours of strenuous effort and it was laudable that the hospital with the wholehearted support of its medical community has come out with a scheme to help children from poor background The Sparsham project is implemented by the Department of Liver Transplant KIMSHEALTH which has successfully conducted more than 140 liver transplants A get-together of children who have undergone liver transplant at KIMSHEALTH was also held as part of the event PTI RRT RRT HDA HDA

Kochi Mar 18 PTI Four guest workers from West Bengal were killed and one person was missing after the earth caved in at a construction site on Friday inside Electronic City near here police said Police said two people are currently admitted to the Kalamassery Medical college here Four persons have lost their lives in the incident Two people are admitted to Kalamassery Medical College As per our preliminary assessment one more person is yet to be rescued from the debris District Collector Jafar Malik told the media here City Police Commissioner C H Nagaraju told the media that sniffer dogs have been brought to find the missing person He said all the workers at the site were from West Bengal and their identities are being examined The accident happened in the afternoon during an excavation inside the industrial area A section of locals alleged that the construction works were going on without the permission of the local body and without enough safety measures Malik though said the area comes under the Special Economic Zone SEZ and all the permissions were given through single-window clearance system However the district administration has announced a probe by the Ernakulam ADM DC Malik said arrangements will be made for the inquest and transportation of the victims bodies to their native state PTI RRT RRT HDA HDA

Thiruvananthapuram Mar 18 PTI Kerala on Friday recorded 847 new coronavirus cases and 59 virus-related deaths taking the total number of people affected in the state to 6525879 and the death toll to 67197 The state had tested 22683 samples in the last 24 hours the state health department said Of the deaths three were reported in the last 24 hours 12 were those which occurred in the last few days but were not recorded due to late receipt of documents and 44 were designated as COVID-19 deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and the directions of the Supreme Court the health department said in a release Among the districts Ernakulam recorded the highest number of cases on Friday -- 165 followed by Thiruvananthapuram with 117 cases and Kottayam with 94 cases Currently there are 6464 active COVID-19 cases in the state out of which only 105 per cent are admitted to hospitals the release said There are 20756 persons under observation in the state out of which 740 are in isolation wards of various hospitals Out of those found infected on Friday three reached the state from outside while 800 persons contracted the disease through their contacts The sources of infection of 30 are yet to be traced Fourteen health workers are also among the infected The health department said a total of 1321 people recuperated from the disease on Friday taking the total cured in the state to 6451349 PTI RRT RRT HDA HDA

Kochi Feb 28 PTI Tension prevailed at Neduvannoor near Nedumbassery here on Monday after local residents protested and disrupted the laying of survey stones in the land identified for the proposed K-Rail project Police took one person into preventive custody for disrupting the public officials from performing their duties Protesters raised placards with slogans against the proposed SilverLine rail project which is also known as K-Rail Residents claimed that the survey stone laid for the seaport-airport road was still there and that the project has not materialised yet These surveyors come and lay stones for various projects in these regions Many residents lost their land for the international airport Most of them have survey stones in their properties for seaport-airport road Now this K-Rail project The residents are not even able to sell their land due to these projects a protester claimed Amid protest over the proposed ambitious semi high-speed SilverLine rail project the Kerala government had on January 15 published the Detailed Project Report DPR with an estimated cost of the project as Rs 63941 crore The DPR which was published in the Legislative Assembly website says the project is expected to be completed by 2025 and will reduce journey time from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod from 12 hours to just four hours The 52945 km long project is executed by Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited K-Rail a joint venture of Government of Kerala and Ministry of Railways for implementing the railway infrastructure in the state PTI RRT RRT HDA HDA

Thiruvananthapuram Feb 25 PTI Hours after committing the murder of a hotel receptionist in the heart of the capital city the accused was nabbed on Friday by the Kerala police from his native place at Nedumangadu Police arrested 36-year-old Ajeesh for hacking to death Tamil Nadu native Ayyappan at the reception of a hotel here We have found the CCTV visual of the crime and the accused was identified As per our preliminary investigation he had earlier this week got into a quarrel with the victim and the murder was a result of that fight police said Ajeesh had earlier this week booked a room at the hotel but got into a scuffle with the hotel staff including Ayyappan after getting drunk However we are looking into all angles The investigation is on police added The 34-year-old receptionist was murdered while he was at the reception of the hotel The room boy who returned to the hotel saw the body and informed the police PTI RRT RRT HDA HDA

Thiruvananthapuram Feb 25 PTI A 34-year-old receptionist from Tamil Nadu was allegedly hacked to death on Friday at a hotel in the heart of the capital city here by an unidentified person police said Tamil Nadu native Neelan alias Ayyappan who was sitting at the reception of a hotel in Thampanoor here was murdered by a person who came in a motorbike The CCTV visuals show a man carrying a machete walking into the hotel reception and hacking him to death He escaped after the murder The search is on police said Police is yet to ascertain the motive behind the murder The room boy who returned to the hotel saw the body and informed the police PTI RRT RRT HDA HDA