kozhikode l monday l January 18, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 28 l city EDITION Kochi airport’s floating solar plant commissioned One of the biggest floating solar plants began generation of power for Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) on Sunday production exceeds consumption french tech helps bring down cost With this floating plant, which has a capacity of 452 KWh, the total installed capacity of the only fully-solar powered airport in the world reaches 40 MW, helping it produce around 1.6 lakh units a day against its daily consumption of 1.3 lakh units. The floats were built by a French firm and installed in the two lakes on the golf course owned by the CIAL. ■ ■ French technology helped bring down the cost of installation on a par with the ground-mounted one for the first time in the country This is a major boost to the CIAL’s aim of becoming the secondlargest power producer in the state after KSEB. A 12 MWp plant is being completed at Payyannur, Kannur. P4 A2 crore Cost of building the polyethylene mounts for the power plant CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI First meeting of SC-appointed panel tomorrow Meeting with Sonia today Talks crucial for state Cong’s top 3 C y nt h ia C h and r an @T’Puram Apex court expected to hear a plea seeking disbanding of the present committee today putting in place a new one in the interest of harmony and natural justice, as its current A controversial committee ap- members are known supportpointed by the Supreme Court ers of the farm sector reform last week to hear arguments on laws. The bench could also look the three contentious farm into the possibility of appointlaws to resolve the ongoing agi- ing a replacement for Mann tation of farmers, who recused himwill hold its first s e l f f ro m t h e meeting on Tuespanel. day, its member Another point Anil Ghanwat of friction is the said on Sunday . proposed Kisan While one of Tractor Parade its members, by farmers on ReBharatiya Kisan public Day. The Union (BKU) bench will hear a p r e s i d e n t Forget repeal: Shah plea by the Delhi Bhupinder Singh Police seeking an “There is no question of Mann recused injunction repealing the farm laws. himself from the These farm laws, which are against the traccommittee, the aimed at enriching the lives tor march or any other three, in- of farmers by strengthening other kind of procluding Ashok test by farmers them financially, will be Gulati a n d implemented in the coming that could disrupt Pramod Kumar days,” Union home minister Republic Day celJoshi, will hold Amit Shah said in Bagalkot ebrations on Janan internal meetuary 26. on Sunday ing on Tuesday For their part, and begin hearfarmers aning all stakeholders from nounced that the Kisan Tractor Thursday . Parade would be on the Outer The next round of talks be- Ring Road in Delhi covering tween the Centre and the farm- about 47 km. Every vehicle in ers, too, is slated for Tuesday . the march will fly a Tricolour On Monday, the Supreme and the flag of the respective Court is expected to hear a peti- farmer union, they said after a tion filed by the BKU Lokshakti meeting of the Samyukta Kisan union seeking disbanding of Morcha in at the Singhu border the present committee and in Delhi. E x p r ess N e w s S e r v ice @ New Delhi Migrants’ return crucial for state’s devpt Several sectors that depend on workers from other states stare at bleak prospects as a big chunk of such labourers are yet to return even though curbs have been lifted | P2 ‘International experts will be roped in to end Kochi’s waterlogging’ E x p r ess N e w s S e r v ice @Kochi Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac on Sunday said international experts will be engaged to undertake a study on ways to end waterlogging in the city . He was replying to Kochi Mayor M Anil Kumar’s request seeking help in addressing the city’s waterlogging crisis, during the programme ‘Dhanamantri Kochiyodoppam’ (Finance Minister with Kochi) organised by the Kochi Corporation here. Isaac also said projects for major infrastructure needs of Kochi had been included in the state budget and that the local bodies should ensure their Kochi is the implementation. development “Kochi is the development gateway of the gateway of the state and can play a major role in its fundastate and can mental transformation during the Covid-19 play a major period,” said Isaac. role in its “Cleaning and beautification of public fundamental transformation places, preventing violence against women during the and creating employment opportunities are Covid-19 period some of the schemes included in the budget which will be implemented in the city shortT M Thomas Isaac, ly,” he said, adding that the success of the Finance Minister schemes hinges on how well the corporation implements them. He also said traffic congestion in the city will reduce substantially following the completion of the Kochi Water Metro, Atlantis railway overbridge and Thevara flyover. He underlined the importance of improving last-mile connectivity of bus services in the city and the completion of phase 2 and 3 of the Vytila mobility hub in addressing people’s traffic woes. WITH THIS ISSUE THE ESSENTIAL CAMPUS DIGEST YOUR LIFE COACH 28 PAGES, INCLUDING 16 OF edex (TABLOID) all that remains The bikes that were gutted after a fire broke out in the luggage van of the Mangaluru-Thiruvananthapuram Malabar Express, at Edava near Varkala in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday morning | B P Deepu | P4 e x p r e ss r e a d Xmas-New Year bumper fetches dept L77 cr ‘Operation Screen’: 900 cases on Day One Reshuffle imperative to save KSRTC: MD T’Puram: The Christmas-New Year Bumper raffle fetched D77.35 crore turnover to the state Lotteries Department. A total of 32.99 lakh tickets were sold as against the previous year’s 36.84 lakh. The ticket that won the first prize of D12 crore was sold in Aryankavu. P5 T’Puram: In a major crackdown on the illegal use of sun-control film and curtains in vehicles, the MVD on Sunday launched the statewide ‘Operation Screen’ drive. As many as 900 cases were registered on day one for flouting the Supreme Court order in this regard. P5 T’Puram; A day after KSRTC M Biju Prabhakar made a scathing attack on a section of staff who, he alleged, are exploiting the corporation, he reiterated his stance on Sunday and stressed the need to bring in a professional management at the top to save the public sector utility. P4 2.2L jabs, 447 adverse events by day-2 end E x p r ess N e w s S e r v ice @ New Delhi The second day of Covid-19 vaccination saw over 17,000 people getting their first shot across six states. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 17,072 people were vaccinated across Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Manipur, and Tamil Nadu. B y S u n d ay eve n i n g , 2,24,301 people had been in- oculated, of whom 447 reported adverse events following immunisation but only three required hospitalisation, the ministry’s Additional Secretary Manohar Agnani said. Most of the adverse effects reported are minor like fever, headache, and nausea. Agnani said a meeting was held with all states and UTs on Sunday to review the progress of the drive, identify bottlenecks, and plan corrective actions. On the eve of Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s crucial meeting in New Delhi with the top three of the party in the state, Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala reiterated that he would happily accept any decision taken by the AICC leadership on the posts to be given to KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran and former chief minister Oommen Chandy . Chennithala on Sunday said no discussion on sharing of the chief minister’s term has taken place so far. Monday’s talks assume importance for all three leaders. It is learnt that Sonia Gandhi will give them strict instructions to stop group politics. Following AICC general secretary in charge of the state Tariq Anwar’s report, each of them is likely be given specific roles. “The norm in the Congress is that the chief minister candidate will be declared only after the elections. Reports that the CM post will be shared is the media’s imagination. We all came to New Delhi to hold talks with the AICC leadership on the preparations for the assembly elections. My aim is to work unitedly which will ensure that the UDF returns to power,” said Chennithala. Over the last several months, the Chennithala camp has been repeatedly claiming that a “collective leadership” will be leading the Congress and UDF. However, in reality, Oommen Chandy has been staying away from the daily grind of politics. Though he has been shying away from taking up any official roles in state politics, he remains active in his own way like the recent ‘padayatra’ in his Puthupally constituency in solidarity with the farmers’ protest. A majority of the UDF constituents and senior Congress leaders had also told the AICC delegation, which visited the state, that bringing back Chandy to leading role is the need of the hour.  ● More on P4 high Resistance Shardul, Washington: Tail of 2 cities S w a r oop S w a m inat h an @ Chennai THE Gabbatoir holds a unique place in Australia’s intimidating sporting theatre. It’s where visiting cricketing teams come to get thrashed. India seemed to go down this most established of Australian practices when they were reduced to 186/6 on Sunday. Worse still, they had Shardul Thakur, in his second Test, and Washington Sundar, a debutant, in the middle. The story took a turn. It was a day of the protagonists -Chennai-bred Washington and a small-town man Thakur, who honed his talent in Mumbai. Their 123-run partnership was enriched by cuts, hooks and textbook drives. What made it even more special was the fact these two were meant to be addons, two reserve players supposed to do their thing in nets. Like many of his peers and heroes of Mumbai, Thakur’s cricketing journey began on Mumbai locals. From Palghar to Borivali and back, his day would begin before sunrise and end long after sunset. His coach Dinesh Lad remembers him not for his performance, but for his attitude. “When you are forced to earn everything in life, you don’t throw away anything,” Lad said. Like Thakur, Washington too was not supposed to be there. In Chennai circles he is labelled as a T20 specialist, who can be useful in 50 overs. What is not known is that he had opened for Under-19 India. A shy person, he prefers to remain alone confined to his room. On tours his Instagram stories are mostly of him taking solo walks. On Sunday, however, he did not walk alone. He and Thakur took India to respectability.  (Inputs from Venkata Krishna B)