🏙️🌆🏙️ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Updates 🌆🏙️🌆

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Technopark ties up with e-vendor
Technopark, the largest conglomeration of IT firms in the city, has found a success model to curb the e-waste menace. It has tied up with a Bangalore-based e-vendor who collects and segregates the e-waste produced on the campus.

Mervin Alexander, CEO, said that Technopark has tied up a Central Government-approved e-vendor who collects the waste produced by companies and processes it. “It has been going on very successfully and has received a good response from the tech firms here. The waste is collected every 30 days and they also pay us a token amount for the material that they collect,’’ he said. Merwin said that Technopark was also keen to spread awareness about the e-waste menace and had recently organised a seminar on the topic.

The campus also hosts the Technopark Technology Business Incubator (T-TBI), a joint initiative of Technopark and the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, which is actively helping the technology business start-ups with all the necessary resources and supports they need to evolve and grow as a ripened business.

Source: Express Buzz

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its smelling of a hijack...
Prospects of Azhikkal port development brighten

Proposal to develop shipyard facility at Azhikkal

The proposed development of Azhikkal port here that has been hanging fire for several years now appears to set sail with renewed interest being shown by people's representatives and collective efforts towards this end.

The development of the Azhikkal port, located near the estuary of the Valapattanam river, is envisaged as linked with another proposal to develop a shipyard facility there. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Ports Minister K. Babu are understood to be fully convinced about the need to develop the port at Azhikkal into a full-fledged port. The latter, however, is said to have some reservations about the proposal to develop the ship repair complex at Azhikkal. Kannur MP K. Sudhakaran, who is the chairman of the committee formed to expedite measures aimed at the development of the port, will meet the Minister on November 8 to make a presentation on the feasibility of the development of the port and shipyard. Admiral (retired) K. Mohan, who heads the expert panel within the committee on port development, will accompany the MP for the presentation.

Azhikkal has been proposed for the development of the Cochin Shipyard's ship-repair-cum-maintenance facility. On October 28 last,

P. Vinayakumar, Director (Technical) of the Cochin Shipyard, visited Azhikkal to examine the feasibility of the proposal to set up the ship repair-cum-maintenance facility there.

“As far as the development of the Azhikkal port is concerned, the Chief Minister and the Ports Minister are fully convinced,” Mr.

Sudhakaran told The Hindu, when contacted on Monday. He said he had sought an appointment with the Minister on Tuesday to make a

presentation on the feasibility of the developing the port and setting up the shipyard facility.

Mr. Sudhakran said the Union government had already informed the State government that it would give the nod for developing a port in the State. It was for the State government to decide which port would be developed, he said adding that he was confident that the Azhikkal port had the potential to be developed into a full-fledged port. The details of the Central project in the pipeline were not yet clear, he said adding that even if the proposal was to develop the port as a PPP (private-public partnership) project, it would be acceptable as there were many investors willing to participate in the project.

Mr. Sudhakaran said the depth of the channel of the Azhikkal port was not a major problem as it now had a depth of 4 to 5 metres,

which could be increased by dredging for navigation of larger vessels. The sandbar at the mouth of the channel was a major hurdle. But the completion of the breakwater would clear the mouth of the sandbars.

Maheshchandra Baliga, president of the North Malabar Chamber of Commerce (NMCC), said people's representatives should pressure the government to expedite measures for the development of the port. He said the shipyard facility would be an added advantage as some vessels reaching Kochi could be diverted to Azhikkal. The Azhikkal port and the proposed shipyard facility would be catalysts for the development of the area, he added.

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The Kerala Road Safety Authority (KRSA) will ensure that safety barricades are installed in busy junctions of the 42-km road stretch developed under the City Road Improvement Project (CRIP).
The KRSA decided to step in in the wake of recent incidents when workers of the Thiruvananthapuram Road Development Company Limited (TRDCL), the concessionaire of the CRIP, were prevented from installing handrails in front of the Secretariat and at Kuravankonam Junction.
In both cases, the handrails were damaged when the welding works were on. In front of the Secretariat, those running a hotel were allegedly behind the dismantling of the barricade, citing that the rail was blocking its entrance. The CRIP and the Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB) had lodged complaints with the Cantonment police station against the act.
At Kuravankonam Junction, Mayor K. Chandrika, who is also the local councillor (representing Muttada ward in the Corporation Council), ordered the dismantling of the handrails erected on the footpath, since they were blocking the entrance to a hotel.
She said that owners of several shops at the junction had complained to her about the inconvenience caused by the rails.
Officials say that abandoning of the work at Kuravankonam had spurred similar demands from shopkeepers at other junctions.
Other junctions

TRDCL has already installed handrails of 90-cm to 1.2-metre height at the Kowdiar, Sasthamangalam, Vellayambalam, LMS, Museum, VJT Hall, Palayam, and Pallimukku junctions. Under the guidelines of the Indian Roads Congress, handrails are to be provided on all the roads leading away from a junction for a safe distance.
In front of the Secretariat, the TRDCL had set up barricades 75 cm in height. The height was reduced to facilitate hassle-free movement of road users since the main gate often witnessed agitations by political parties and other organisations, a TRDCL official said.
Unauthorised parking of vehicles and assembly of people on the road continue in Kuravankonam Junction after the work on the barricades was abandoned. Road safety experts say the stretch is prone to accidents.
“Preventing pedestrians from straying into the path of vehicles is a basic safety requirement and this has to be enforced at Kuravankonam Junction as a traffic signal is going to be installed there soon,” the official said.
Committee's decision

A high-power technical committee of the KRFB had looked into the traders' complaints and had insisted that handrails be put up.
Official sources said the KRSA had enough powers to ensure that the barricades were installed to prevent pedestrians from straying onto the road.

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Future research scholars of the University of Kerala have reason to cheer. A year from now, the entire research-related administrative process — from the scrutiny of research application to the scheduling of the open defence — would be done by software.
According to a proposal cleared by the university Syndicate recently, the software for this ‘Research Portal' is to be developed by the university's computer centre.
Sources in the university who have seen the proposal document told The Hindu that the main aims of the portal would be to speed up the administrative part of research work, introduce transparency, and bring in tighter quality control on the varsity's research sector.
Checking eligibility

Once the portal is operational, a research scholar would submit his doctoral application online. An ‘eligibility checker' in the system would, using pre-specified criteria, decide whether the candidate is competent to do research on that particular topic.
The backbone of the system would be a database of all current research scholars, their topics and guides, and a list of all approved research guides and centres in the university.
When the theses section of the Kerala University Library is fully computerised, the portal will also help a potential research scholar find out quickly whether anyone has done doctoral work on a particular topic or in any related area.
Once an application is approved the system will forward it to the doctoral committee which will then communicate its decision to the university. The approval for an application would be sent as an email to the candidate and the guide. Within two years of a candidate beginning his doctoral work he/she should clear the course work examinations. If a candidate fails to do so, the system will generate a message cancelling the candidate's registration.
Cancellation too

Similarly, the system would generate a ‘registration cancelled' message if a full-time researcher fails to submit the thesis in five years or a part-time scholar, in eight years.
The system will first verify whether syndicate has given extension to a candidate.
One part of the database will be an exhaustive list of experts who are qualified to be in the panel for evaluating a doctoral thesis. If need be a research guide can choose from this list.
Once a guide submits an evaluation panel, this is entered into the database. Only the Vice-Chancellor will have access to the names in the panel. He can select three names from that list. The system will send emails to those persons asking for their consent for evaluating the thesis.
For now, the university will continue to send the print copy of theses to the evaluators. However, the evaluators can send in their reports via email. Based on these reports, the system will generate the notice for the open defence. The result of the open defence will be placed before the Syndicate which will take the final call on granting the doctorate. The status of the thesis can be tracked online. The candidate will not be privy to the identity of the evaluators or get to see their reports.
The portal will also feature a software used for number crunching and a special software designed to detect plagiarism. A candidate will be required to run his completed thesis by this software before submitting it to the university.

[Kochikaran]

thanks proud of thiruvandatha puram

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Mayor K. Chandrika has said that the Corporation will initiate revenue recovery proceedings against the Legislative Assembly complex in the city if the building tax arrears for the complex are not remitted within the stipulated time.
Ms. Chadrika has said that the State government owed the Corporation around Rs.13 crore as building tax since the commissioning of the complex in 1998.
“The State government, which is delaying the sanction for the Corporation's budget proposals, should at least release the money that is due to the local body in terms of building tax arrears. Most government buildings in the city have not been assessed for building tax so far. The Niyamasabha complex was also not assessed until we took up the case,” Ms. Chandrika told The Hindu.
She said the Assembly complex officials had contested the building assessment measures initiated by the Corporation officials, following which the building was re-assessed. However, now they are raising contentions again regarding the re-assessment.
“Initially when we sent a direction for building assessment, they did not respond. So the Corporation took the initiative and assessed the Assembly complex. When they disagreed on the assessment results, we conducted a re-assessment. They cannot keep on making contentions, the Corporation should get the tax that is due and I have communicated this to the honourable Speaker as well,” Ms. Chandrika said.
She said that if the payment of tax arrears of the Assembly complex was inordinately delayed, the Corporation would send a final demand notice following which the revenue recovery proceedings would be initiated after 15 days.
Corporation Tax Appeal standing committee chairman P. Shyamkumar said the Corporation was willing to look into the contentions made by Niyamasabha complex if an initial amount was remitted by them. “From last what I heard on the case, the Speaker has agreed in theory to make an initial payment of Rs.50 lakh,” he said.
Appeal committee
Mr. Shyamkumar said the Corporation was willing to make reasonable concessions for the tax arrear amount if the Legislative Assembly officials approached the tax appeal committee.
“We had done this in the case of some buildings in Technopark when they made an appeal before the committee. The assessment for buildings on its campus is progressing. We have already received Rs.50 lakh from the facility as property tax,” Mr. Shyamkumar said.
He said notice had been given to all government buildings in the city regarding payment of property tax.
Special squad
As part of recovering tax arrears from government and private buildings, the local body has constituted a special squad to conduct building assessment. Around 279 buildings have been assessed by the squad in the past one year. This move is part of the Corporation's initiatives to improve its revenue collection.
“The Corporation, which is facing a severe financial crisis, has not had a positive approach from this government regarding release of funds. Apart from the delay in receiving the approval for our budget projects, the government is yet to release the Rs.23-crore pension fund. We have to give around Rs.40 crore to contractors alone. Even the salary for our staff has to be met from Corporation's own fund. In this scenario, the Corporation is pressed to improve its revenue collection system through such measures,” Ms. Chandrika said.

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Two Malayalam feature films — ‘Adaminte Makan Abu', directed by Salim Ahmed, and ‘Aadimadhyantham', directed by Sherrey — are among 14 films that will be screened in the international competition section at the 16{+t}{+h} International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), scheduled to be held here from December 9 to 16.
The IFFK preview committee has also included two other films from India for screening in the international competition section. These are the Bengali film ‘Abosheshey', directed by Aditi Roy, and the Hindi/English film ‘Delhi in a Day', directed by Prashanth Nair. All these four films from India were produced in 2011.
The international competition section includes four films from Latin American countries — ‘A Stone's Throw Away' (A Tiro de Piedra) from Mexico, directed by Sebastian Hiriat; ‘The Cat Vanishes' (El Gato Desaparece) from Argentina, directed by Carlos Sorin; ‘The Colours of the Mountains' (Los Colores de la Montana) from Columbia/Panama, directed by Carlos Cesar Arbelaez; and ‘The Painting Lesson' (La Leccion de Pintura) from Chile/Mexico, directed by Pablo Perelman.
‘Black Blood' from China/France, directed by Miaoyan Zhang; ‘Flamingo No.13' (Flamingo Shomareh 13) from Iran, directed by Hamid Reza Aligholian; and ‘Palawan Fate' from Philippines, directed by Auraeus Solito; are the entries selected under this section from Asian countries.
Turkish film ‘Body' (Vucut), directed by Mustafa Nuri; Kenyan film ‘Ndoto za Elibidi', directed by Kamau Wa Ndung'u/Nick Reding; and Syrian film ‘September Rain' (Matar Ayloul), directed by Abdellatif Abdelhamid; are the other entries selected for screening in the international competition section at the IFFK.
The festival organising committee expects nearly 10,000 registered delegates, in addition to nearly 150 foreign guests, to attend the festival. The films will be screened at 10 theatres in Thiruvananthapuram and there will be five shows in each theatre. An official said a roadshow beginning one month prior to the festival would tour the State to publicise the event.

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THIRUVANANATHAPURAM: As part of ending the dispute over loading and unloading by a section of unscrupulous workers, the State Government is launching the unification of the loading and unloading charges in the state. Thiruvananthapuram will be declared the first ‘nokkukooli-free’ city in the state on November 9.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will inaugurate the function at Panchayat Association Hall here on Wednesday. Ministers P K Kunhalikutty, V S Sivakuamr, Mayor K Chandrika, MPs Shashi Tharoor, A Sampath, MLAs and other people’s representatives will attend the function. The loading and unloading charges of building construction materials and furniture have been revised in view of the complaints that a section of workers are demanding exorbitant rates. The unified fee structure would be implemented in the city for the first time. Later it will be implemented in all the five municipal corporations in the state. Labour Minister Shibu Baby John’s office had held several rounds of talks with the trade union leaders in this regard. As per the scheme, the fare for articles to be unloaded can be remitted in advance in all the branches of the State Bank of Travancore. The application containing the list of articles and its fares will be available at the residential associations, Headload Workers Welfare Fund offices and on the website of the Labour Department. The workers can claim the amount remitted in the bank fromHeadload Workers Welfare Fund Board office or from the local office of the Board. The applicant has to submit three copies of the application form along with payment. The original copy will be kept in the bank, the duplicate with the applicant and the third copy will be given to the workers who unload the articles. The fees will include the charges for unloading and for stacking the same in the vehicle. The list also contains the charges for transporting the materials on head for 25 metres from the vehicle. In case of any dispute the complaints could be solved through the Headload Workers Welfare Fund Board and District Labour Office. The Helpline of the Labour Department also could be a approached for settling the dispute. The Labour Department has been instructed to initiate stringent action against those who demand exorbitant rates or misbehave with the clients.

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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The pipe-laying work near Thampanoor using the jack and push method as part of the Japan International Cooperation Agency-aided water supply project has covered the compound of the railway station.
As per officials of Larsen and Toubro, the contractor, the pipe is being now laid across the road from near the RMS to reach a textile shop on the other side.“We started the work under the road on Monday and now the casing pipe is being laid. After that we will be pushing the distribution pipe inside. If there are no rains, the work would get over within a week,” said an official with L&T.Nearly 25 m has to be covered under the road. Simultaneously, work has started from near the Parthas textile showroom to lay another pipeline. It is to be noted that pipelines have already been laid under 11 railway tracks. A total of 96 m is being covered, which includes the road portion also. The pipe-laying was done using the trenchless technology, which meant pushing the pipes through the earth using jacks. For this, an open trench was made near the Kripa Theatre, from where the pipelines were pushed under the tracks. The work had officially commenced after September 14.The casing pipes - mild steel pipes of 1,200 mm diameter, 2.5 m length and 20 mm thickness - were laid under the tracks first. Potable water pipes, ie 800 mm mild steel pipes of 8.8 mm thickness, were then laid inside them. The pipes are laid some 2.5 m under the tracks.

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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The city lacks adequate bus shelters. To make matters worse, the new bus shelters which are being constructed as part of the City Road Improvement Project (CRIP) are inviting much criticism owing to their least regard for the differently-abled. The seating arrangement is in such a way that a differently-abled person will find it difficult to use.
As many as six bus shelters have come up in various parts of the city. Construction of 30 more bus shelters are expected to begin soon. However, the city prefers a change in the seating arrangement as it is not user-friendly. The seats are arranged in such a way that they give support only to the legs. And this is not enough to give support to the handicapped. Also, the capacity of the bus shelters is too small, when compared to the volume of passengers at busy junctions. According to Anil Kumar Pandala, project director of CRIP, the design of the city bus shelters are similar to those in other states. “The seating arrangements are similar in other places also. If there is a complaint against the height of the seating, we are ready to change. But it is difficult to provide better seating facilities. After dusk, the bus shelters will be occupied by miscreants and it would be difficult for the women to wait at bus shelters. If better seating facilities are provided, the jobless and other miscreants will occupy the space,” he said. “The bus shelter in front of the Ayurveda College Junction is occupied by wayside eateries during night,” he added. Commuters abandon the bus shelters in front of SMV School and Ayurveda College as buses still stop two-three feet ahead of the marked bus bays. Also, the space in front of bus shelters is a parking lot for cars and taxis.