KL This Week: ‘Year of Enterprises’ Wins ‘Best Practices’ Award, Food Safety Measures Continue

After incidents of food poisoning, the Department of Health increased vigil across the state. The food safety officials seized around 15,000 litres of milk mixed with hydrogen peroxide in the Aryankavu on the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border.

Meanwhile, in Kasargode, the death of a student named Anjushree was found to be a suicide. Initial reports claimed food poisoning was the reason for her death, while the postmortem reports suggested the presence of rat poison.

The government of Kerala was selected for the best practices award for rolling out the ambitious ‘Year of Entreprises’. It aimed at creating one lakh enterprises in the 2022-23 financial year, and the target was achieved within only eight months, bringing recognition to the state.

Shashi Tharoor, the three-time Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram, has set his eye on state politics. Tharoor has been reaching out to religious and caste-based organisations, but his recent comments and actions did not go down well with the state leadership.

The 13th national conference of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) ended on January 9 with a massive rally and public meeting in Thiruvananthapuram. NewsClick brings a roundup of key news from Kerala this week.

ACTION CONTINUES OVER FOOD SAFETY

After the death of Rashmi Raj, a nurse from Government Medical College, Kottayam, the department of food safety ramped up raids on hotels and restaurants based on complaints. During the last couple of weeks, more than 500 eateries were raided for the usage of stale items, leading to the closure of around 40 hotels.

The postmortem report of Anjushree ruled out the possibility of food poisoning as an excess amount of rat poison was found. Police also reportedly recovered a suicide note from her mobile phone.

Stale meat of around 500 kg and stale oil of 150 kg were seized from outlets in Kochi. In another incident, 15,300 litres of milk mixed with hydrogen peroxide was seized at a checkpost in Kollam district while it was proceeding for supply to the Pathanamthitta district.

Minister for Health Veena George has instructed authorities to ramp up the verification process of licences and ensure hygiene in hotels in the wake of multiple incidents.

YEAR OF ENTERPRISES WINS RECOGNITION

The Left Democratic Front (LDF) government launched the ‘Year of Enterprises’ with the aim to increase the number of MSMEs and investments and generate employment in the state. The project has resulted in the formation of 1,21,651 enterprises till January 15, with an investment of Rs 7,414.08 crores. This has led to the generation of 262,524 employments in the state.

With two more months till the end of the financial year, the government expects the number to increase further.

The project was selected as the best practice in the second chief secretaries’ national conference held in New Delhi. The recognition was presented under the ‘Thrust on MSMEs’ category.

KPCC UPSET OVER THAROOR’S ACTIONS

Shashi Tharoor has once again put the Kerala Pradesh Congress (KPCC) leaders in a spot of bother over his statements on entering state politics. His recent moves to meet the leadership of Nair Service Society (NSS) and hold a proposed meeting with the Islamic leaders have irked the KPCC leadership.

The NSS, which once claimed Tharoor to be a ‘Delhi Nair’, called him ‘Kerala’s Son’. Tharoor has restarted his Malabar tour as a step towards achieving recognition.

Tharoor has shown interest in contesting assembly elections, though the polls are a good three years away. V D Satheesan, the leader of opposition, reacted by claiming, “The party high command decides on the candidates and not the leaders themselves.”

CURTAINS DOWN ON AIDWA CONFERENCE

The 4-days national conference of the AIDWA concluded in Thiruvananthapuram on January 9, with a massive rally and public meeting. The conference has decided to work towards important goals, namely “reach out to all women of all sections”, “defeat Manuwad”; and “fight against the corporate-communal nexus”.

The organisation, one of the largest women’s associations in the country, has modified its bylaws to admit trans women as members. The conference elected P K Sreemathy as the new president while Mariam Dhawale was re-elected general secretary.

The public meeting was inaugurated by Pinarayi Vijayan, the Chief Minister of Kerala, on January 9, the concluding day of the conference.

MAN-ANIMAL CONFLICT

A 52-year-old farmer, Thomas, was killed in a tiger attack in Wayanad district on January 13. The farmer was severely injured by the attack at around 10 am, which created fear among farmers and general public. Six people have lost their lives in tiger attacks in the last eight years.

The Palakkad Tusker-7 (PT-7) has once again created ruckus in the district. The forest department has increased vigil to prevent forest elephants from entering the residential and agricultural areas.

CHARGESHEET AGAINST BJP PRESIDENT

The state president of the BJP, K Surendran has been named the first accused in the election bribery case. The crime branch has filed the chargesheet on five others in the case.

The case was registered after K Sundara, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate from Majeshwar constituency, complained of being kidnapped and paid a bribe to withdraw his candidature. Surendran contested from the constituency and lost.

In another incident, clashes erupted in the BJP meeting in Perambra in Kozhikode district on allegations of receiving bribes from individuals seeking licences to set up petrol pumps on the state highway connecting Kuttiyadi and Perambra.