Posts Tagged ‘Kochi’
Written by admin on 29 April 2012
Kochi, April 29 (IANS) En route to Cuban capital Havana to participate in a trade union congress, three Communist Party of India-Marxist leaders from Kerala were stopped at the Doha International Airport and ‘forced’ to fly back to Kochi citing lack of sufficient documents, one of them alleged Sunday.
The three leaders – former CPI-M legislator V.Sasikumar, Reji Zachariah and Syed Mujib Ahamed – were going to attend the three-day International Trade Union Congress in Havana, starting Sunday. They were representing the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU).
They had to take a connecting flight to Madrid from Doha, en route to Havana.
‘We had confirmed tickets on Qatar Airways flight from Kochi to Doha on early morning of April 26, and from Doha to Madrid on the 27th morning. We also had tickets on a European airline from Madrid to Havana. We got the boarding pass to travel till Madrid when we departed from Kochi,’ said 50-year-old Sasikumar, who represented Perinthalmanna constituency in the last Assembly.
‘Our flight to Madrid was on 27th early morning and we reached the counter at the Doha airport. But after some time we were told by security officials that we cannot travel because we do not have a transit visa for Madrid,’ he claimed.
Alleging ‘rude’ treatment by the airport authorities, he said their pleas that they were going for a trade union meeting fell on deaf ears. He also claimed that they had been checked in till Madrid from Kochi.
‘We later asked them to re-route our ticket. We told them if that’s also not possible, then put us on a flight to Delhi, from where we can catch a flight to Havana. Instead we were treated badly by the security officials at the Doha airport who put us on a flight to Kochi. We reached here yesterday early morning,’ he said.
The former MLA said they would take up the matter with the central government thought the party.
Tags: Kerala, Kochi
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Written by admin on 27 April 2012
Kochi, April 27 (IANS) The owner of a damaged fishing boat, on which two Indian fishermen were shot dead allegedly by two Italian Marines from a cargo vessel in February, withdrew his complaint Friday after he was paid compensation of Rs.1.7 million ($32,000) by Italian authorities.
Italian authorities earlier Tuesday handed over two demand drafts of Rs.1 crore each to the Lok Adalat as compensation to families of the two fishermen, following an out of court settlement with them.
J. Freddy, owner of the fishing boat St. Antony, had Thursday filed an application in the Kerala High Court for permission to transfer this case to the Lok Adalat so that he could settle the case out of court, and this was allowed by the high court Friday.
In his petition filed soon after the Feb 15 shooting incident, Freddy had demanded that the Italian vessel Enrica Lexie should not be allowed to leave the Kochi waters unless he was compensated.
Since the past few days, Italian authorities were in touch with Freddy’s counsel for paying compensation for his damaged boat. Both sides Friday appeared before the Lok Adalat, and Freddy collected the compensation of Rs.1.7 million and signed documents that he would not pursue the case.
Earlier, the high court bench slammed Freddy and families of the killed fishermen for going back on their original petition, and said once money changed hands everyone changed their stance and this does not augur well in criminal cases.
Ajesh Binki, 25, and Gelastine, 45, were apparently mistaken as pirates and shot dead by Italian Marines from aboard the cargo vessel Enrica Lexie Feb 15, off Alappuzha. Freddy was on board his fishing boat when the shooting took place.
The Marines, Latorre Massimillano and Salvatore Girone, were picked up from the vessel and sent by a court in Kollam to jail Feb 20 on murder charges. They are now lodged in the central prison in Thiruvananthapuram.
Tags: Kochi
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Written by admin on 26 April 2012
Kochi, April 26 (IANS) The owner of a damaged fishing boat, on which two Indian fishermen was shot dead by two Italian marines in February, Thursday filed a plea in the Kerala High Court saying that he would not oppose the departure of the Italian vessel from Kochi if he was compensated Rs.1.7 million ($32,000).
The application of Freddy, the owner of boat St. Antony, would be taken up in court Friday.
Freddy’s fresh plea is part of the on-going case related to a petition filed by him soon after the Feb 15 incident off Alappuzha.
In his petition, he said Italian vessel Enrica Lexie should not be allowed to leave the Kochi waters unless he was compensated.
Since the past few days the Italian authorities have been in touch with Freddy’s counsel for paying compensation for his damaged boat lying idle.
This plea filed by Freddy Thursday comes two days after Italian authorities handed over two demand drafts of Rs.10 million each as compensation to the families of two Indian fishermen shot dead by the marines on his boat.
Fishermen Ajesh Binki, 25, and Gelastine, 45, were apparently mistaken as pirates and shot dead by Italian Marines from aboard the Italian vessel.
Freddy was on board his fishing boat when the shooting incident took place.
Italian Marines, Latorre Massimillano and Salvatore Girone, were later picked up from the vessel and sent by a court in Kollam to jail Feb 20 on murder charges. They are now lodged in the central prison in Thiruvananthapuram.
Tags: Kochi
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Written by admin on 25 April 2012
Kochi, April 25 (IANS) A state-of-the-art sales pavilion, built as part of the much-awaited Smart City Kochi project, is all set to open next month, an official associated with the project said here Wednesday.
‘Smart City Kochi is a commitment towards the state of Kerala and will set new benchmarks in creating and fostering an ecosystem for investment and growth,’ said Jawad Suleiman, executive director, project development and planning of Smart City Dubai, the project implementing company.
According to Suleiman, the 10,090 sq ft pavilion will assist in marketing the project to national and international investors, and its opening comes at a time when the master plan of the project is expected to be completed by August.
‘With the approval of the concept master plan, we are moving towards building the country’s largest IT Park with world-class facilities in Kerala,’ said Suleiman.
The proposed Rs.5,000 crore mega IT project, the ground breaking ceremony of which was held in October last year, will come up over an area of 250 acres. It is expected to provide jobs to 90,000 professionals.
As planned, the first phase of the project will be completed in 18-24 months.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had first announced the Smart City Kochi project in 2004 when he was in office. However, since then it was hanging fire. Things have started moving again after Chandy re-assumed office in May last year.
Tags: Kerala, Kochi
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Written by admin on 25 April 2012
Kochi, April 25 (IANS) Pailan Arrows defeated Chirag United Kerala 3-0 to register their first win in I-League football at the Nehru Stadium here Wednesday.
Pailan Arrows, All India Football Federation (AIFF) developmental team, rode on national team striker C.S. Sabeeth’s hat-trick to deflate Chirag Kerala.
Sabeeth scored the first in the 33rd minute and then doubled the score in the injury time of the first half. He completed the rout in the injury time of the second half when he converted from the spot. Sabeeth was adjudged Man-of-the-Match.
The victory takes Pailan Arrows to 13 points from 24 matches while the relegation axe fell on Chirag Kerala who stay on 17 points from 24 matches.
Chances were even for the sides in the early period of the play as rival strikers Vineeth CK for Chirag and George Alwyn for Pailan came close to putting their respective teams into an early lead.
But all had to wait till the 33rd minute for the first goal. Chirag goalkeeper and captain Sharath K was to blame for the goal as he fumbled a shot from Malswamfela. The ball fell kindly for Sabeeth who just had to tap it in from close.
Pailan’s young guns doubled their lead in the added time of the first half. This time it was from a break initiated by Bikramjit Singh who released Sabeeth ahead of Chirag backline. Sabeeth rounded past the on rushing Sharath and slotted the ball into the open net to conclude the first forty-five minutes.
Changing over, Chirag coach Biswajit Bhattacharya brought in winger Usman Ashik in place of Suman Dutta. He also rang changes by bringing on Pradeep Mohanraj in the central midfield and pushing Vineeth to the wings to bring more creativity.
But their fortunes did not change and relegation was looming in the horizons. And it could not have gone worse for them as Sherin Sam received marching orders for bringing down George Alwyn in the box and a spot kick was awarded to Arrows. Sabeeth blasted the penalty down the middle of the goal, completing the Indian international’s first I-League hat-trick.
Tags: Kerala, Kochi
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Written by admin on 24 April 2012
Kochi, April 24 (IANS) Italian authorities Tuesday handed over two demand drafts of Rs.1 crore each to the Lok Adalat as compensation to the families of two Indian fishermen shot dead by Italian Marines on Feb 15, following out of court settlements. But the Marines will continue to stand trial on criminal charges.
Last week, a vacation bench of the Kerala High Court referred the compensation claim of the two fishermen’s families to its Lok Adalat here.
The court took this step after Italian authorities and the fishermen’s families agreed to reach an out-of-court settlement.
Consequent to this agreement, the Italian authorities Tuesday handed over two demand drafts of Rs.1 crore each to the Lok Adalat, which will be given to the bereaved families of the two fishermen.
Ajesh Binki, 25, and Gelastine, 45, were apparently mistaken as pirates and shot dead by Italian Marines from aboard a cargo vessel Feb 15, off Alappuzha.
The Marines, Latorre Massimillano and Salvatore Girone, were picked up from the vessel and sent by a court in Kollam to jail Feb 20 on murder charges. They are now lodged in the central prison in Thiruvananthapuram.
Consequent to the out-of-court agreement, Gelastine’s widow and two children would each get one-third share of Rs.1 crore and the two sisters of Binki would split Rs.1 crore equally.
With this, the families of the two fishermen agreed to withdraw all the cases filed in the high court and a court in Kollam, but the criminal case will stands, according to law.
The court also asked the Italian authorities on why they approached the apex court when the trial for quashing the first information report against the Marines is over and only the verdict is pending.
Counsel for the Italians said they moved the Supreme Court because this was a case involving two nations.
Tags: Kerala, Kochi
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