TRIVANDRUM, India, 1 October 2006 — With three more deaths reported from central Kerala, the toll of the chikungunya outbreak in the southern Indian state has risen to 51. Health Minister P.K. Sreemathy yesterday visited several primary health centers where hundreds of people have been admitted for treatment of this mosquito-borne tropical viral infection that is generally not fatal. According to the federal Health Ministry, the disease has struck more than a million people across the country and it has killed at least 300. Health officials here said nearly 40,000 people are suffering from acute forms of the viral fever in the Alappuzha district alone. Doctors say it is a relatively rare and particularly vicious form of infection.
Book on Kerala Launched
“Stark World: Kerala”, claimed to be the most comprehensive book on the state, was launched in Cochin last week by film icon Mohanlal. The 816-page volume is a first of its kind among destination books and includes 1,300 pictures that capture the extraordinary beauty of Kerala — the land, the people and their culture, dances, festivals and everyday life of the state. Kerala has been rated by National Geographic as “one of the 10 paradises of the world”. The contributors to the book include writers Shashi Tharoor, Anita Nair and M.T. Vasudevan Nair, actors Mohanlal, Mammooty and Meera Jasmin, journalists Ramachandra Guha, Anita Pratap and C.P. Raveendran, painter Yousuf Arakkal and Arne Walther, secretary-general of the International Energy Forum based in Riyadh.
Trivandrum Airport
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will lay the foundation stone for a 2.46-billion-rupee ($53.5-million) international passenger terminal at the Trivandrum airport on Nov. 1, Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said. Manmohan will also kick off 50-day celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the state’s formation. The federal Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) last week cleared the airport modernization project involving the construction of a brand new glass-and-steel tubular terminal in 18 months. The peak hour passenger capacity after commissioning of the new terminal will go up to 800 arrivals and 800 departures from the current 260. The terminal will match facilities at futuristic terminal buildings across the world, such as escalators, elevators and aerobridges. It will handle passengers of two AB-300s and one Boeing 747 aircraft at a time.
Tea Picker Walks Into Boardroom
For the first time in India’s history, a poor tea-picker has become the director of a corporation. High-school dropout A. Chandra, 37, was nominated by Kanan Devan Hills Plantation (KDHP) Limited, which divested its majority stake to its employees. Chandra was working with the 1.05-billion-rupee ($22.8-million) company for the past 17 years and had won the “Best Tea-picker” award from the company. The last board meeting she attended cleared a dividend of 14 percent for shareholders. But she still earns 82.65 rupees ($1.85) a day by plucking tea leaves for the company that was owned by the Tatas after the original British owners left the country. “I live in the workers’ lane,” she said. “My children attend the same government school and my husband goes out to work everyday.” The KDHP is claimed to be the biggest profit-sharing management company in the world with 12,441 workers having a stake in the company.
Ferry Service Delayed
The proposed plan to start a commuter ferry service connecting Dubai with Cochin has been put off again due to technical reasons, according to reports from Dubai. The ferry service, claimed to be a cheaper alternative to transport 700 passengers at a time, was to begin in February but deferred to September. “We cannot give any definite date for starting the service,” said Marco Shipping chief Mohammed Suwaidi from Dubai, according to the Press Trust of India. “We have got the required permission from the Kerala government, and have sent two million dirham ($536,475) to build all the facilities at the Cochin port.” The service could not take off initially as there was a safety warning in the Indian Ocean and then the company encountered some technical difficulties. The plan was for two trips a month initially, to be doubled later.
Mega-Investment Projects
Southern Ispat has signed an agreement with the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) for its 5-billion-rupee ($108.8-million) integrated steel plant with an annual capacity of 1,000 metric tons of sponge iron, 800 metric tons of steel billets, 50 megawatts of power by waste heat recovery and a bar and rolling mill in Cannanore where a Greenfield airport is coming up. Some 17 companies have signed up with the KSIDC and Kerala Infrastructure Development Corporation (Kinfra) to set up units in the district, including Kerala Sponge Iron, Kallitath Steels, Sun Power Cement, Mariyan Apparel, Industrial Gas Complex, Wake Industries International and Bhagavathy Group. Industry Minister Elamaram Kareem said Kerala’s industrial climate has changed drastically. Leading entrepreneurs from the region, such as TNC Menon of Sobha Group, Captain Krishnan Nair of Leela Group and Ajith Balakrishnan who heads Rediff.com, are also expected to announce their investment plans soon.
