Cyclone remal wreaks havoc, four killed Strong winds blew away roofs of huts and knocked down power poles, while accompanying downpour caused waterlogging in many areas Rain to continue till Tuesday morning The cyclone ravaged adjacent coasts of West Bengal and Bangladesh between Sagar Island and Khepupara after its landfall process began around 8.30 pm on Sunday. After a night of heavy rainfall, several areas of Kolkata remained inundated. kochi l tuesday l may 28, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Fund crunch: No Kochi Biennale this yr? A i s h w a r ya P r a b h a k a r a n @Kochi Below normal monsoon in east, northeast J i t e n d r a C h o u b e y @ New Delhi In its updated long-range forecast for the upcoming Southwest monsoon season, the IMD on Monday predicted abovenormal rainfall over central and south peninsular India and normal rains over northwest India. However, eastern and northeast regions and some northern parts such as Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand may likely see below-normal rainfall. “The southwest monsoon seasonal rainfall is most likely to be ‘above normal’ over central India and south peninsular India (greater than 106% of the long-period average), ‘normal’ over northwest India (92-108%) and ‘below normal’ over northeast India (less than 94%),” the weather office said. This means India’s core monsoon zone, where agriculture is mostly rain-fed, will get above-normal rains. The IMD has already predicted the onset of the monsoon over Kerala on May 31. In an unusual development, the Bay of Bengal branch of the monsoon may arrive earlier than the Arabian Sea branch due to cyclone Remal. 16 pages, including 4 pages of KOCHI Express The sixth edition of Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB), India’s largest contemporary art exhibition that was scheduled to be held later this year, is on the verge of being called off owing to severe financial crunch. The non-availability of venue has compounded the problem. “Due to financial constraints and unavailability of venues, this year’s Biennale has been postponed,” a source close to the exhibition’s organising body told TNIE. When contacted, KMB founder-president Bose Krishnamach- ari said, “We will be making an announcement soon regarding the next edition of the Kochi Biennale.” This will be the first time that Kochi misses out on the event, which draws art lovers from across the nation and even abroad, due to reasons like lack of funds and venue. Barring in 2020, when its fifth edition had to be put off owing to the pandemic, the event has been held every two years in December since 2012. The fifth edition was held from December 23, 2022. Though it is speculated that the historical Aspinwall House, which serves as a main venue of the Biennale, will be sold to the Coast Guard, the source said it was not the reason behind the decision not to host the Biennale. “Talks about Aspinwall House being sold are not the reason for postponing the Biennale. While conceptualising the Biennale in 2010, Aspinwall House did not figure in discussions by Kochi Biennale Foundation. If not Aspinwall House, the foundation will find another location,” said the source. The state budget for 2024-25 allocated `5 crore for the Biennale’s sixth edition. Meanwhile, the source said Delhi-based realty firm DLF, which owns Aspinwall House, has been charging hefty amounts as rent for hosting the Biennale. “During the last edition, the firm demanded `25 lakh per month as rent. The foundation ended up paying around `1.5 crore to DLF,” said the source. Lost faith in state machinery: Guj HC Roasts Rajkot civic body for not enforcing fire safety rules, asks why it allowed the game zone to run Debris being removed from the game zone site in Rajkot, where 28 died in a blaze | Pti D i l i p S i n g h K s h at r i ya @ Ahmedabad The Gujarat High Court on Monday hit out at the Rajkot Municipal Corporation and the state government, saying it has lost faith in the state machinery that turns a blind eye to illegal structures and wakes up only after innocent lives are lost. The sharp remarks came a day after the HC took suo-motu note of the blaze at the TRP Game Zone in Rajkot on Saturday evening, which killed at least 28 people. The game zone did not have the fire NOC or other crucial permissions. A special bench of justices Biren Vaishnav and Devan De- sai asked the Rajkot civic body why it allowed the game zone to run. The bench was furious when it was told the operators did not apply for permissions. “Were you blind to the existence of this large structure? How do you explain that the entire zone has existed for the last two-anda-half years? What fire safety measures were applied?” it asked. When a counsel pointed out that drastic actions must be taken to avoid such incidents in future, the bench said: “Who will take such drastic steps? Frankly, we no longer have faith in the state machinery. This is the sixth incident in four years after our orders and their assurances. They only act after lives are lost.” The HC posed a volley of questions to the corporation’s counsel, asking why were the court’s earlier orders on fire safety norms not followed. During the hearing, the bench examined photographs showing Rajkot government officials being present at the gaming zone inauguration. “Who were these officers? Were they there for play? Can we not take judicial notice of that fact? For 18 months, what did the corporation do? Just sit on it?” the bench questioned. 519 fell victims to human trafficking in last 2 years S h a n A S @T’Puram A staggering 519 people — 236 children, 234 women and 49 men — from the state fell victims to human trafficking in the past two years, data from the police has revealed. As per the official statistics of the police anti-human trafficking unit for the years 2022 and 2023, accessed by TNIE, 257 cases of human trafficking were registered in police stations across the state in the two years. The highest number of cases, 75, was registered in Kasaragod. Year-wise breakup of the data showed that the both the number of cases and number of victims saw a drop in 2023 from 2022. While 152 cases were registered in 2022, 105 cases were registered in 2023. In 2022, 149 women and 143 children fell prey to traffickers, in comparison to 85 women and 93 children in 2023. From Kasaragod, 137 people — 22 men, 53 women and 62 children — fell victims to trafficking in the two years. As per the two-year data, Idukki was in second place with 49 cases, while Ernakulam was third with 45 cases. Kasaragod district police chief P Bijoy said the numbers surge as police add IPC Section related to trafficking in grave crimes, such as rape, involving ● More on P5 minors.
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