To arrest the rapid trend of Kerala farm workers abandoning the arduous job of coconut climbing, the Coconut Development Board (CDB) has launched a trained army of coconut climbers, under the brand of ‘friends of coconut tree’. With traditional climbers switching over to other less laborious jobs, and youngsters turning indifferent towards it, coconut climbing has taken a heavy toll in Kerala. In many parts of the state, coconut harvesting takes place only once in three or four months against the mandatory exercise in every 45 days.

Skywalk, enclosed pedestrian crossings suggested. A ‘Skywalk' at Thampanoor has been proposed along with the 41.8-km monorail, an elevated rail-based mass rapid transit system (MRTS), on the Pallippuram-Neyyattinkara stretch of the city.

The National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (Natpac), in its feasibility report, has recommended pedestrian facilities along with the MRTS which will run at an interval of every five minutes, with stoppages of 20 to 30 seconds at each of the 35 stations.

NEW DELHI, 3 FEB: As Air India promised to pay Rs 28 crore dues by this evening, state-owned oil companies have resumed jet fuel supplies to the national carrier today. All the three oil companies ~ Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum ~ had jointly stopped aviation turbine fuel (ATF) supplies to Air India in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Trivandrum and Kochi from 4 p m on Thursday.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Vilappilsala waste treatment plant will be closed down and a zero waste management project will be implemented to deal with wastes generated in the Corporation limits, said Chief Minister Oommen Chandy here on Wednesday. “But the location of the new facility is yet to be decided. Reports stating that the unit would be located at Bonakkad is not correct, as it is only one of the sites under consideration of the government,’’ he told reporters at the Cabinet briefing.

Bhubaneswar: In a joint initiative, Kerala and Odisha have firmed plans to set up a 2,000 MW thermal plant in Odisha, sourcing coal from Baitarani fields in the state.
The project details were discussed at a meeting of senior officials from the two states, held in Thiruvananthapuram with the initiative of Kerala chief minister Ommen Chandy on Monday evening, official sources said.

The National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (Natpac) has been asked to conduct a feasibility study on the proposed monorail project for the Capital City.

An official spokesman said here on Wednesday that Natpac has been directed to submit the report in two months. The decision was taken during a high-level meeting convened by the Chief Minister, Mr Oommen Chandy, here.

Earlier, a Malaysia-based private contracting company had conducted a slide show on the project at the conference hall adjoining the office of the Chief Minister.

MUMBAI: Kerala-based, all-women micro-lender Kudumbashree will soon sign a pact for providing consultancy services to the National Rural Livelihood Mission with the objective of scaling up this flagship programme of the Rural Development Ministry.

Under the soon-to-be-inked agreement with the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), a flagship programme of the Rural Development Ministry, Kudumbashree will offer its micro-enterprise consultancy services to the mission.