Kochi

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Kochi Mayor A Anil Kumar on Saturday said that the Civic body will challenge the National Green Tribunal order which awarded Rs 100 crores in environmental compensation against Kochi Municipal Corporation for alleged continuing neglect of its duties resulting in a fire at a waste dump site in Kochi."Kochi Corporation will challenge the NGT order. An appeal will be filed in consultation with legal experts. We will look at all possible legal avenues," said Kochi Mayor M Anil Kumar.Calling for a vigilance inquiry & 3-pronged inquiry into the Brahmapuram fire incident, Kumar said, "The wrongdoers, if any, will naturally be found out. The entire cost of extinguishing the fire at Brahmapuram was borne by Corporation. The amount will be told in the coming days".The Tribunal stated that, according to a media report, Kochi city was choked on account of a fire at the waste dump site on March 2, 2023, which led to a crisis situation. A warning was issued to the residents to stay indoors ...

NGT has directed the Kochi Municipal Corporation to pay an environmental compensation of Rs 100 crore for the damage to the environment because of its failure to handle solid waste.

NGT has awarded Rs.100 crores in environmental compensation against Kochi Municipal Corporation for alleged continuing neglect of its duties resulting in a fire at a waste dump site in Kochi

An Air India Express flight cabin crew has been arrested by the Customs for allegedly smuggling over 1.4 kg gold through Cochin International Airport near here, official sources said on Thursday. The crew of Bahrain-Kozhikode-Kochi Air India Express flight was apprehended by the Customs sleuths, who recovered the gold that was wrapped around his hands on Wednesday. Air India Express said the arrested crew has been placed on suspension with immediate effect. The airline said it has zero tolerance for such behaviour and will be taking stern action against the individual including termination of service following receipt of the report from the investigative authorities.

With air quality deteriorating at an alarming pace at Brahmapuram and its neighbourhoods due to the smoke emanating from the waste plant fire, the Kerala government on Thursday requested the residents in these areas to stay indoors and not to keep the windows and doors open. It has also advised the residents to avoid activities like jogging and exercising outside their houses, and also to use N95 masks when they go out. The Ernakulam district administration has also set up 24-hour control rooms at Kalamassery Medical College and also at the office of the District Medical Officer (DMO) for the public to call if they experience any difficulty due to inhalation of the smoke from the plant. Public can call the Medical College control room at 8075774769 or the DMO control room at 0484 2360802, authorities said. District Collector NSK Umesh, who assumed office today amidst political blame game over the fire, visited the site along with local MLA P V Sreenijan and Corporation Mayor M Ani

Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan on Thursday slammed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for his silence on the ongoing problem of smog that has engulfed

The Kerala government on Wednesday decided that plastic will no longer be taken to the Brahmapuram waste plant where a fire, which broke out last week, is still smouldering leading to thick toxic smoke spreading out into the port-city of Kochi. The decision was taken in an emergency high-level meeting chaired by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the wake of the fire at the plant, the CMO said in a statement. It was also decided in the meeting, that bio-waste will be disposed of at the source as much as possible and the window composting system for organic waste treatment will be repaired urgently, the statement said. The Chief Minister also suggested holding of meetings in which Ministers, people's representatives, including mayors, would participate to deal with the issue of waste management and disposal, it said. Earlier in the day, in the wake of the still-smouldering fire at the Brahmapuram waste plant here and the toxic smoke being generated from there, the Kerala High

High Court says city 'trapped in gas chamber'; IAF choppers spray water; schools shut for two days

As many as 30 fire tenders, two Navy helicopters and over 120 fire force personnel among others on Monday continued to battle the fire at the Brahmapuram waste plant here from where toxic smoke has spread across the city and neighbouring areas. Even though the fire appears to be extinguished, huge amounts of smoke was still rising from the waste mound. The Kakkanad, Aroor and Vytilla regions of the city appeared to be hazy during the day. District authorities said each of the fire tenders was using approximately 40,000 litres of water each to put out the smoke. The authorities have pressed into use six excavators to pick the waste and pump water underneath. They also said that water is being taken from the nearby Kadamprayar river with the help of floating earth-moving equipment and powerful machines are being used to extinguish smoke by flooding the entire area which is under fire. The Navy helicopter, Seaking, collected water from a nearby reservoir and poured it over the ...

Giant plumes of toxic smoke continued to rise from the Brahmapuram waste plant here on Sunday evening as hundreds of firefighters, including Naval personnel, battled to bring the blaze that has gone on for four days under control. A senior police officer said that the fire appeared to be extinguished, but huge amounts of smoke was still rising from the site and therefore, it may not have been quelled completely. Aerial visuals of the site aired on various channels showed huge and thick plumes of smoke billowing from the site which appeared to be completely ravaged by the fire. Meanwhile, the district administration declared Monday as a holiday for Anganwadis, kindergartens, day care centres and children of classes 1 to 7 of government, aided, unaided, CBSE and ICSE schools located in Kochi city and neighbouring gram panchayats and municipalities. Earlier in the day, Kerala Industries Minister P Rajeeve said that the fire was under control and would hopefully be extinguished by ...

Close to 1,500 flights would be operated every week from the Cochin International Airport as part of its summer schedule starting from March 26 till October 28 this year, CIAL said. The summer schedule of 1,484 flight services every week would also include 332 weekly departures to international destinations by 31 airlines of which 23 are foreign carriers, the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) said in a release. Indigo, which tops the list with 63 weekly departures to international destinations, has also started operations on a new sector -- Kochi to Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE, the release said. The domestic services will see an increase in flights to Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, it said. During the winter schedule there were 1,202 weekly services from the airport, it further said. "Over the past ten years, the aviation sector in India has undergone significant expansion and transformation. With more people choosing to travel by air than ever before, India is now the ...

No child should become an addict to drugs, that is the goal set by the new Police Commissioner of the port city K Sethuraman, who took charge here on Sunday. Speaking to reporters after taking charge as Kochi City Police Commissioner, Sethuraman said, "Our priority is to ensure that no child from now on becomes an addict to drugs. That is our goal. We will work to ensure that." The senior police officer said no activities which lead children astray would be permitted. He said strict action would be taken by the police to prevent such activities. Regarding the law and order in the port city, Sethuraman said if you look at the entire country, Kochi was one of the cities where law was being followed properly. He further said his predecessor -- Nagaraju Chakilam -- set a good standard and he intends to take it forward in the same manner.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday inaugurated the 5G services provided by Jio in Kochi city and Guruvayur temple premises. Vijayan launched Jio True 5G and Jio True 5G Powered Wi-Fi services, digitally from Thiruvananthapuram, for an event organised here. Speaking at the event, Vijayan said the 5G services in the long run will bring transformational benefits for people of Kerala. Jio, in a release said, it has invested over Rs 6,000 crore for deploying the 5G network in Kerala and will be launching 5G services in Thiruvananthapuram by the end of this month followed by Thrissur, Kozhikode, and Malappuram by January 2023. "By December 2023 every tehsil and taluk of Kerala will have Jio's 5G services," the release said. It said 5G will also enable citizens and the government to remain connected on a real time basis and will also improve implementation and efficiency of government schemes for the last mile user. Jio group epxressed their gratitude towards the Chief ..

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday inaugurated a new Business Jet Terminal at Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL)

The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the Customs department seized 1192 grams of gold, worth Rs 48.5 lakh, at the Kochi airport on Sunday.On the basis of profiling done by the Kochi AIU batch, customs officers intercepted a passenger from Dubai at the Kochi Airport by flight IX-434.The accused was identified as Ali, a native of Kozhikode district.On examining the passenger, the customs officials found four capsules of gold in compound form, weighing 1010 grams, concealed inside his body.Three crude gold chains, weighing 182 grams, were also found concealed in his socks and seized.Further investigations are underway.Earlier, on Saturday, the customs department seized 2,219.94 grams of gold, worth Rs 94 lakh, in two separate incidents at the Kochi airport after intercepting two passengers.In one of these cases, the customs seized 1155.88 grams of gold worth Rs 47 lakh.The officers of the Kochi AIU batch intercepted a passenger from Dubai, identified as Shihab from Alappuzha district of ...

Four of the 10 cities in the index recorded sequential contraction, the others posted expansion

Protests gather steam as earnings dwindle and fuel prices surge; some say the earnings have declined by as much as 50%

Kerala Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday inaugurated the new software lab of IBM, a state-of-the-art global innovation centre, at Brigade World Trade Centre inside the Infopark here. The centre will focus on product engineering, design, and development of new products and solutions in the areas of data and AI and automation and collaborate with the technology eco-system in the region to co-create solutions for the global industry. Vijayan said the investment made by the IBM shows that Kerala's IT hub have the greenest IT spaces and a talent pool of IT professionals. "IBM's choice to establish its software lab at Infopark- Kochi is truly something to celebrate. This investment shows once more that Kerala's IT hubs have the greenest IT spaces, a talent pool of IT professionals, a Centre of Excellence in emerging technologies, and the economic momentum to continue to move the state forward as the country's next digital hub," Vijayan said. The chief minister also said his ...

The statement came after Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot showed interest in running for the post of party chief