Latest news with #Sreenivasan
The Hindu
a day ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Malabar Devasom Board employees to stage token protest
The Kerala State Temple Employees Coordination Committee has threatened strong protest measures if the issues faced by the employees of the Malabar Devaswom Board (MDB) are not addressed soon. A token protest will be held at 11 a.m. on July 21, marking the 31st anniversary of the 1994 Kerala High Court order that led to the formation of the board. V.V. Sreenivasan, chairman of the Coordination Committee, pointed out that none of the directions in the High Court order—apart from the formation of the Board—had been implemented by the State government, despite the political changes over the years. The temples under the MDB still follow the Madras Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, instituted during the British era, while other Devaswom Boards in the State follow different legislation. As a result, employees under the MDB are denied many of the benefits enjoyed by their counterparts in other boards. This has led to several disputes over the wage structure of MDB staff. Meanwhile, a comprehensive Devaswom law framed by the State government eight years ago is yet to be implemented. The coordination committee had staged a 64-day-long protest a few years ago, which failed to achieve the desired results.
Hans India
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Hans India
PFI had 'hit list' of 950 in Kerala including judge, reveals NIA probe
Kochi: In a startling revelation made by the National Investigating Agency (NIA), it has surfaced that the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) had prepared a hit list of 950 people in Kerala. The list, which surfaced in the media on Wednesday, included a now-retired district judge. Incidentally, this list was submitted early this month by the NIA at a special court here when the bail applications of four accused in the murder of RSS leader Sreenivasan came up for hearing. The NIA opposed the bail strongly. The four accused, identified as Muhammad Bilal, Riyasudheen, Ansar K.P. and Saheer K.V., were arrested for murdering Sreenivasan at Palakkad, Kerala, in 2022. The list of 950 was compiled after getting confirmed inputs from different places by the NIA probe team. It includes eight documents seized from the 51st accused, Sirajudheen, which contain a list of 240 people from other communities. Then, while conducting a search held at Periyar Valley Campus at Aluva, NIA was able to get the details of five targeted persons from the purse of the 15th accused, Abdul Wahad, who is presently on the run. It was in this list that the name of a former district judge was found. Another document seized from an accused, who turned approver later, contained a hit list with the names of 232 people. Similarly, a search held at the home of the 69th accused, Ayoob, a hit list containing the names of about 500 people was found. When the NIA was probing the Sreenivasan case, the PFI link emerged. It was later found that PFI had sinister plans to create unrest in the country. During the investigation, the anti-terror agency got details of the PFI carrying out physical and arms training for its cadres. The NIA has now claimed that it has voice clips and witness statements that reveal the 'India 2047 plan' of setting up Islamic rule in India. The special court, after hearing both sides and going through the documents produced before it, observed that there were reasonable grounds for believing that the accusation against the petitioners was prima facie true, and rejected the bail petition.
The Hindu
12-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
NIA charge-sheets another accused in RSS leader murder case
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday charge-sheeted another accused in a case relating to the murder of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Sreenivasan by members of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) in Palakkad, officials said. In a supplementary chargesheet filed before the NIA Special Court, Ernakulam, Rafeek M.S. has been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. He is the 64th accused to be charge-sheeted in the case, the officials said. 71 accused The NIA has so far identified 71 accused in the case and is continuing with its investigation and search to nab the eight absconders. Rafeek, an active cadre of the PFI, had conspired with other accused persons involved in the attack on Sreenivasan, as per the NIA investigations. 'He had knowingly harboured Muhammed Shefeek, a key member of the conspiracy and the recce team involved in the murder. Rafeek had also destroyed the evidence and even continued to harbour Shefeek after the attack, despite the PFI being banned by the Government of India in September 2022,' the statement said. Sreenivisan was murdered on April 16, 2022.
The Hindu
07-06-2025
- The Hindu
Mangaluru Mail: Old bogeys rich in history
At 8.10 p.m. every night from Chennai Central, a slice of history leaves the Tamil Nadu plains and heads towards the Western coast. Mangaluru Mail is one of the oldest trains in Southern Railway and its original number was 1 with the return down trip numbered at 2. Back then it was the Mangalore Mail before the Kannada twang caused a minor change in nomenclature. Having commenced operations in 1867, initially to Calicut (Kozhikode), the train moved all the way to Karnataka's coastal town. Initially pulled by a steam engine, the transition towards diesel and now electric, was gradual. Years later when computerisation of railway bookings clicked in, its numerical reference changed and now it is labelled at 12601 and 12602. The railway line to northern Kerala and coastal Karnataka was launched by the British as a tool to help transfer hill-produce, spices, tea, coffee and timber from Malabar and Coorg to the plains and Madras port. The advent of the Mangalore Mail also helped people migrate towards the Madras Presidency, for education and jobs. The original Udupi hotel owners now based in Chennai, first took this train while leaving their homes in Mangalore, Udupi and Kundapura. It was the same with Malayalis from Kasaragod to Shoranur, and they too got into setting up tea shops, hole-in-the-wall bakeries, while also seeking jobs in factories in the western suburbs. The train was also favoured by those in the field of arts. Directors like I.V. Sasi and multi-faceted artistes like Sreenivasan took this train and sought greener pastures in Kodambakkam. It is no surprise that in actor Sreenivasan's son Vineeth's recent films, the odd hat-tip to Mangalore Mail is placed. It was not just about people from the west coast rushing for a break in Chennai, this train also helped devotees from Tamil Nadu head towards Guruvayur and Mookambika with the alighting points being Kuttipuram and Mangaluru, respectively. In recent times, there are those who use this train to head to Manipal, while pursuing higher education. Over the years other trains were launched like the West Coast Express, a favourite of legendary star and former Chief Minister MGR, especially when he travelled to Mookambika temple. And the latest addition is the superfast express that leaves in the evening. A new demographic following has also latched onto the Mail thanks to migrant labourers from Bengal. Leaving at night, slithering through the Palghat Gap before dawn and reaching Mangaluru well past noon, this is a train rich in history, despite its old bogeys and the obvious need for a fresh coat of paint.
The Hindu
06-06-2025
- General
- The Hindu
A sunken ship and a sea of worries
E Sreenivasan, an 80-year-old fisherman, stands near a granite memorial as he recalls the fury of the sea 21 years ago. On December 26, 2004, a tsunami struck the Indian Ocean coast with a ferocious intensity, uprooting trees, smashing buildings, and sweeping away thousands of people. At the fisher hamlet in Arattupuzha at the southern end of Alappuzha district in Kerala, the tragedy claimed 29 lives. 'They included three children from the same family,' he says, pointing to the memorial. Soon after the disaster, a 14-kilometre-long fortress-like seawall came up in Arattupuzha. It was created with concrete tetrapods, huge boulders, sand bags, and coir geotextiles. Two decades later, the people of Arattupuzha are relying on that seawall to protect themselves, their houses, and the coast from sea incursion. On May 25, the sea claimed a Liberian-flag container ship, MSC Elsa 3, which was carrying 644 containers, some of which had hazardous cargo; 367 tonnes of heavy fuel oil; and 64 tonnes of diesel. Since then, a large strip of the Kerala coastline has been littered with plastic, cotton, and other waste that washed ashore from containers that fell into the sea from the ship. While there has been no leakage so far, there are oil patches around the ship, the Kerala government said. Days after the ship sank, the government banned fishing within a 20-nautical-mile (about 37 km) radius of the wreck and promised to give 6 kg of free rice and ₹1,000 a month to each of the affected fisher families in the districts of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha, and Ernakulam, stretching from the central to the southern part of the State. Sreenivasan is unhappy with the compensation. 'Each worker in the sector used to get ₹200 as daily compensation whenever the government banned fishing due to adverse weather or other reasons,' he says. 'The ₹1,000 that the government is giving now is a pittance.' Binu Ponnan, the Alappuzha district president of the All India Fishermen Congress, an organisation that works for fishers' welfare and rights, also believes that the compensation is grossly inadequate. 'The government must sanction at least ₹10,000 per fisher's family per month, to help them overcome the lull in the sector following the sinking of the ship,' he says. The sinking of a ship On May 24, the 27-year-old vessel, owned by the global shipping giant Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), departed the recently inaugurated Vizhinjam port in Thiruvananthapuram and was en route to Kochi. For the crew of 24 — comprising a Russian captain, 20 Filipinos, two Ukranians, and a Georgian — the journey was supposed to take a day. By afternoon, the 184-metre-long vessel began developing a starboard list ('tilt' in common parlance) when it was sailing off the Thotapally coast, according to defence sources. By 3.15 p.m., the list had increased to a frightening 30 degrees. Containers began to slide off the ship. The crew sent an SOS message, prompting the Indian Coast Guard to depute three relief and rescue ships and a Dornier aircraft, and the Indian Navy to send two ships. At around 5:15 p.m., Kerala State Disaster Management Authority member-secretary Shekhar L. Kuriakose issued a series of audio clips warning the public about potentially dangerous cargo in the vessel. Fighting poor visibility, strong gales, a sea swell, and the debris and containers floating around the vessel, the rescuers brought 21 members of the crew to Kochi. Warnings were issued to other merchant vessels to stay clear of the area, add defence sources. On the morning of May 25, shortly after the last three crew members were rescued, the ship capsized and sank, along with the containers. Fisherfolk say they were not worried about the incident until reports about a pollution scare came out and led to a fall in demand for fish. On May 27, an order issued by the principal bench of the National Green Tribunal in New Delhi pointed out that the ship was carrying hazardous materials such as calcium carbide, oil, and other items. These could seriously impact the marine and coastal environment and affect the biodiversity and water quality of the area, it said. 'On account of wave, wind and current actions of the waters, these pollutants can travel to other coastal parts of the country, including Lakshadweep islands, affecting them. The impact on the Lakshadweep island will be severe as the island coastal water has high bio-diversity with corals,' the bench said. A few days later, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan held a press conference. He quashed speculation that fish caught off the coast of Kerala was inedible. He said that the containers carrying the highly flammable calcium carbide, stowed away in the ship's cargo hold, remained submerged and posed no immediate threat. The MSC has appointed the U.S.-based firm, T&T Salvage, to handle the environmental clean-up operations. T&T will help mitigate the risks posed by the calcium carbide and rubber compounds in the containers in the vessel. Sources in the Mercantile Marine Department say that different types of equipment were mobilised for the recovery. These include bollard-pull tug boats, underwater scanning and mapping machinery, oil-spill response and fuel retrieval apparatus, among others. 'We have many other worries' While the precise number of containers that fell into the sea is yet to be ascertained, the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services has warned that 45% of them could be washed ashore. Sreenivasan is not perturbed about the containers. Instead, he worries about the 'hundreds of tonnes of mineral sand that are being mined every day' from the coastal areas in Kerala's southern districts, for commercial use. 'Indiscriminate mining has led to a fall in catch of many fish varieties, and sea incursion,' he says. Ponnan, from the All India Fishermen Congress, says the waste and pollution threat from the ship is only the latest in a series of problems that the fisher folk are facing. 'Sand mining over years has severely affected the coast. Chemicals, sewage, and other waste are dumped into the sea from the State's coast. The government must take steps to prevent all this since it has been affecting the fisheries sector and the fragile marine ecosystem,' he says. Ponnan says officials have so far failed to clear the non-biodegradable and other waste that was washed ashore from the ship. 'The authorities must also publish the precise location of the shipwreck and the fallen containers, so that damage to boats and fishing nets can be prevented even after the fishing ban is lifted,' he says. He also believes that sections of the media must show restraint in covering the episode. 'Many people are reluctant to purchase fish from these areas because of media coverage of the issue. This is despite the fact that incidents of 'fish kill' (in which dead fish are found in large numbers in specific areas) have not been reported anywhere along the Kerala coast after the sinking of the ship,' he says. B. Sasi lives in Purakkad in Alappuzha district and owns two fishing vessels. Driving past the coastal road on his two-wheeler with a packet full of freshly caught fish, he dismisses concerns about environmental pollution. 'Reading and seeing some news reports, people got scared that fish from the sea may be contaminated. But they were scared for barely a week. The price of kilimeen (pink perch) had nosedived to ₹30 after the ship sunk, and has now gone up to ₹190 per kg. The price of matthi (sardine) has risen from ₹15 to ₹300, and ayila (mackerel) is selling for ₹220 a kg,' he says, adding that the sea is vast and is able to handle upheavals. After the ship sunk, fisher welfare organisations in several areas began hosting 'fish festivals' across the coast. These were aimed at reassuring people that fish caught in the area are safe to eat, and to reinvigorate the fish market. In the northern part of Kollam, in the Alappad Azheekal harbour, trawlers and other vessels land one after the other, most of them bringing in freshly caught prawns. The catch is cleaned and stacked in plastic containers, before being taken to markets and eateries. K.C. Sreekumar watches the workers. He used to be known as an environmentalist, but prefers not to be addressed as one now. He says, 'There is little left of nature now, so there is hardly any reason to be referred to as an environmentalist. I was also a fisherman, but I took a break from it due to some health issues.' He says the price of fish will probably increase in the next few days as the government has imposed curbs on fishing. Sreekumar says soon after the ship sank, most sections of the media began speaking of 'threats' to the fishing sector and of 'pollution' in the sea without any thought or research. 'But the same media often ignores the indiscriminate dumping of untreated pollutants by factories, other establishments, and households into water bodies and the sea off the coast of Kerala,' he complains. Sreekumar echoes Srinivasan in saying that mineral sand mining has made matters worse. He says there is fear that 'a Somalia-like situation' will occur a few decades down the line, due to the unregulated exploitation of coastal and marine resources and worsening instances of pollution. 'All these are impacting the State's once-thriving fisheries sector despite all the talk of a blue economy,' he fears. V. T. Sebastian is general convener of the Chellanam Kochi Janakeeya Vedi. This is a group of organisations that is spearheading the demand for robust seawalls along the Chellanam-Kochi coast to prevent the sea from destroying more houses in the area. Sebastian says people are fortunate as the containers and pollutants from the vessel stayed clear of the Kochi coast. 'Still, danger lurks in the form of many tonnes of colourless plastic nurdles that spilled out of many of the containers in Kerala's southern districts. The ones on the coast can be cleared, but the rest would have ended up in the sea. Some people fear that fish may eat the nurdles and this may in turn pose a severe health hazard to the people consuming those fish,' he says. Already, many people are refusing to eat fish and this is affecting the livelihood of fishers, he says. 'Apart from increasing compensation for fishers' families, the State and Centre must also salvage the containers that toppled into the sea and those that remain on the ship. Otherwise, these will pose dangers in the long term to fishers and others who consume fish. The government must also inspect sea water samples every day to rule out contamination,' he says. Apart from Kerala's southern districts, there has been a lull in demand for fish in Kochi, says Ajith, a retail fish seller from Vypeen island, located off the Kochi coast. 'Many households have stopped consuming fish. But hotels and canteens continue to buy seafood,' he says. Compensation to fishers The Kerala Matsyathozhilali Aikya Vedhi (KMAV), a trade union of fishers, has demanded that MSC compensate fishers whose livelihood has been affected over the past fortnight. KMAV president, Charles George, asks why the vessel that ought to operate amid waves that can rise up to 15 m in height tilted on May 24 and sank on May 25 after encountering waves of a much lower height, of about 3 m. 'The ship sank less than 30 km off Thotapally, while the shipping channel is located 50 km away. In this situation, the captain ought to have been arrested and the operator company held accountable for the pollution. The Centre must take steps to ensure that the company pays compensation to fishers affected by the incident,' he says. George points to similar incidents in the Philippines, South Korea, and France where operator-owner firms 'paid compensation' to the affected people and for cleaning and restoring the marine environment, as per norms laid out by the International Maritime Organisation. KMAV secretary, N.A. Jain, says he is concerned about ensuring the safety of the 3,800 trawlers, over 1,000 fibre boats, and over 500 inboard fishing vessels operating off the Kerala coast. He demands that the State government prevail on the Centre to ensure that ships operate 50 km away from the State's coast, to prevent sinking incidents nearer to the coast, as well as the collision of ships with fishing vessels. While the Directorate General of Shipping and the Mercantile Marine Department attributed the sinking to technical failure in ballast-water management, which ought to ensure the ship's stability, senior officials of fisheries and marine research institutions say three committees, each headed by civil servants, have been formed to assess the damage caused by the shipwreck to the marine environment and to the fisheries sector. 'A joint report will be submitted to the agencies and research institutions concerned. As of now, there is no cause for alarm since marine pollution beyond the threshold would have resulted in 'fish kill', which has not been reported so far along the Kerala coast,' says a high-ranking official from one of the institutions. However, the State government must salvage the cargo and oil from the container vessel that sank. It must also incentivise people and agencies who collect plastic and other waste that were washed ashore, and send the waste for scientific recycling, he adds. The Chairperson of the Kerala State Pollution Control Board, Sreekala S., says there is no 'alarming' presence of pollutants in water samples that have been collected from the coast. 'Efforts are being made to collect samples from the vicinity of the sunk vessel and analyse them,' she says.
