Al Majid Channel 2 Premiers two Exclusives President's first Kerala Visit for two days

Interview with Chandra Mohanand member of ISD First Managing Committee

First Kerala Syllabus School in Muscat was started by Sugathan Gopalan, says former KCC Secretary General

Chandra Mohan.

Still searching for his cooking range kept at KCC kitchen

Dubai - Mr. Chandra Mohan, former General Secretary and Vice President of the Kerala Cultural Centre (KCC) has told Keralamonitor.com that he is surprised to see many people who originally opposed the very idea of a Kerala syllabus school occupying prominent positions in the Indian School Darsait Management Committee. In an interview with KM, Chandra Mohan who was also in the first Management committee of the Indian School Darsait revealed that it was Sugathan Gopalan, currently member of the MC, who obtained the original permission from the Indian Government and the Indian Embassy, Muscat to start a Malayalam school here. Chandra Mohan is now working as the Regional Sales Manager of a leading German company.

"I am surprised to see that many people who opposed the idea of a Malayalam school continued in the school committee for 8 to 12 years without any shame," he said. There was a conspiracy to hijack the Indian school Darsait from Sugathan Gopalan by certain prominent Non Resident Keralites with the help of the then social organiation KCC. "I don't know how a particular person became so important in the Indian School Darsait MC when he was not holding any official position in the Kerala Cultural Centre, the major social organization representing the Keralite community then. Many people wanted to control the school for which the ground work was done by Sugathan Gopalan.

"I have to acknowledge that the Kerala School became a reality mainly because of the hard work of Sugathan Gopalan. He did a lot of leg work in India and Oman to get a license to start a Kerala syllabus school." Said Chandra Mohan. However, he was removed from the school committee. Chandra Mohan was in the school committee representing the KCC. He added that a particular person, who was nowhere in the picture, became the school president. "When I wrote a letters to the editor explaining the reasons for having a Kerala syllabus school in Muscat, even the Indian Ambassador summoned me and scolded," he recollects.

"When I left Oman the KCC had a fully equipped library of 2000 books donated by various members and purchased by the club, a computerized office, a good music system and kitchen utensils sufficient to prepare Onasadhya for 1500 people," Chandra Mohan recollected. "When I left to the UAE, my own Electronic cooking range was kept in the KCC kitchen for demonstration by the ladies wing. It was kept in the KCC ladies wing on the condition that it will be returned after the demonstration session," he added.

When I left Oman, KCC had a huge surplus fund amounting to RO 40,000 kept in the bank account. "Later I heard that the committee members of 1993 disposed off these items including my cooking range which was to be returned as per the understanding with the club leaders. If you lend something, you have to give it back. How can they sell it at a throw away price in an auction," he asks. Every KCC member has a right to know how the money and club property was utilized and what happened to the various assets of the club, he added. Even though Chandra Mohan has been in Dubai for the last one decade, he still remembers the good old days in Muscat. He is still searching for that cooking range which was hurriedly sold by the club management committee, without bothering to return it to the original owner. "Various attempts to retrieve it through friends and relatives in Muscat failed because it is sold by the club", he said. (keralamonitor.com)

Where is the KCC Account - Asks Purushottam Khanji Vijayan.

"I have been asking the former KCC leaders, who occupy prominent positions in other associations now, to give me detailed accounts of KCC Fund. Even if they have promised several times to give the accounts, they have never bothered to give the records," says Vijayan, another former KCC member. They have been telling me that the account is given to the Indian Embassy. How can they deny me the right to see the club accounts?-keralamonitor.com

President's first Kerala Visit for two days

The President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam will leave here tomorrow for his first visit to Kerala after assumption of office. Dr. Kalam will have a busy schedule during his two-day tour to the state. On the first day of his tour tomorrow, the President will visit the Southern Naval Command at Kochi and will then address the students of Farook College. Dr. Kalam will then launch the Total Development Programme for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes of Attappady. Later in the day, Dr. Kalam will have an interaction with children at the Panchayat Hall at Agali.

The President will also hold an interaction with the medical faculty and students of the Amritha Institute of Medical Sciences at Kochi. Following this he will have an interaction with children on the subject "India of my dreams". In the evening, Dr. Kalam will inaugurate the concluding ceremony of the celebrations of 1950th Anniversary of the arrival of St. Thomas and 450th Death Anniversary of St. Francis Xavier at Kochi.

On Monday, the President will lay the foundation stone for the training complex of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and also visit the Exhibition of New Technologies and hold an interaction with Senior Scientists and Engineers. Later, he will dedicate to the nation the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology. In the Afternoon, Dr. Kalam will inaugurate the Platinum Jubilee Celebrations of Sree Narayana Dharma Sanghom Trust. He will also launch the Bridging the Digital Divide Campaign and will be given an over-view of the campaign by the State Government. The President will return to New Delhi late in the evening on Monday.

Railways to Introduce Userfriendly Crew Cabs.

The Railway Minister Nitish Kumar has said that the Indian Railways are taking steps to design and develop Crew cabs of the locomotives with several user friendly features so that the Crew is able to pay full attention towards safety related duties. The new designed Crew-cab will provide better comforts to drivers warding off fatigue leading to safe driving, he added.

Nitish Kumar was speaking at the "Most Crew Friendly Cab Competition" for diesel railway engines organised by the Railway Board here today. The Railway Minister pointed out that the earlier belief was that the driver may fall asleep if very comfortable conditions in the cab are provided. However, this notion has changed the world over and the Railway Safety Review Committee has also recommended comfortable seats and other improvements in the Crew cab so as to reduce the stress and fatigue while driving the loco. The Railway Minister said that the Railways production units, workshops and diesel sheds all over the country were given directions to work on improving driver’s cab by focussing attention towards several user-friendly features. Appreciating the objective of the Most Crew Friendly Cab Competition, the Minister said that the competition has really succeeded in encouraging several railway units to come out with various useful improvements and modifications in the engine’s cab. He said that the good features developed by participating departments in the competition will be incorporated in all other locomotives in the country in a phased manner. He said that all Crew cabs will now be air-conditioned and will have several useful features. He said that a comfortable atmosphere would make driver fully alert, fresh and attentive thereby improving his efficiency and performance. The Minister said that the move for better driver’s cab is also one of the aspects of safety and these improvements/modifications can be carried out in a very small amount of money.

The Most Crew Friendly Cab Competition for diesel locomotives involving all zonal railways and production units was organised at New Delhi Railway Station today. The focus areas for designing the new user-friendly crew cab included better, comfortable & adjustable seats; more leg space ; better door locks, windows sliding arrangement ; better amenities such as air-conditioning, toilets, drinking water, tea making arrangements, temperature control etc. ; better Cab lighting, better signal track visibility ; ergonomic features improving access to various controls and ease of handling ; superior aesthetics, colour scheme, finish, interior décor; injury free features ; aerodynamic profile ; noise, vibration, dust proofing, safety features like driver’s view, headlight, large size rear view mirror, auto-flasher etc..

Various production units, workshops, diesel sheds participating in the competition presented their locos with different kinds of improvements and modifications in their driver’s cab. Evaluation of designs was done by drivers and a committee of two Executive Directors (Mechanical), Railway Board. While 60% marks were allotted by the drivers remaining 40% were allotted by the Committee. Based on this evaluation, the names of the winner departments were announced by S. Dhasarathy, Member (Mechanical), Railway Board. The Railway Minister Nitish Kumar presented the certificates to winners. . In the Diesel Loco Shed category, Guntakal Shed of South Central Railway won the first prize, Ratlam Shed of Western Railway bagged the second prize and Alambagh Shed of Northern Railway received the third prize. In the workshop category, the first and the second prize winners were Parel workshop of Central Railway and Golden Rock workshop of Southern Railway respectively. In the production unit category, DLW bagged the first prize. The prize money for the first, second and the third place was Rs.2.5 Lakhs, Rs.2.00 Lakhs and Rs.1.50 Lakhs respectively. A special prize of Rs.1 lakh each was also given to DMU of Southern railway, Ludhiyana of Northern railway and Vatva of Western Railway. Delhi division of Northern Railway bagged a special prize of Rs.50,000.

Members of Railway Board, General Manager (Northern railway), Delhi’s Divisional Railway Manager and several officials and workers from production units, loco sheds and workshops were among those present on the occasion.

In a significant development under the Public Private Partnership Models, Ministry of Railways today signed an Agreement with the Gujarat Adani Port Limited (GAPL) for operation and revenue sharing for a 54 km long Broad Gauge Rail Line between Adipur (Near Gandhidham) to Mundra Port (Near Kutch) in Gujarat under North-Western Railway. This railways line has been constructed by GAPL. From the Railway’s side, the signatories to the Agreement were: Ranjan Jain, Executive Director (Perspective Planning) Railway Board, New Delhi and Sanjiv Garg, Chief Freight Transportation Manager, North Western Railway, Jaipur whereas Gautam Adani, Chairman, Advani Group signed on behalf of GAPL. The Agreement was signed in Rail Bhawan in the presence of the Railway Minister, Nitish Kumar; Chairman, Railway Board, I.I.M.S. Rana, other Board Members and senior officials of Ministry of Railways and GAPL.

The Agreement signed covered two areas – permission agreement to Build, Own and Maintain the Adipur-Mundra railway line and operation agreement of this line. The newly constructed Railways line will be owned and maintained by the GAPL under a Build Own and Maintain Agreement. Indian Railways will operate this line under an Operation Agreement to ensure seamless operation.

This model is the first of its kind in the creation of Railway Infrastructure, and could promote more such Joint Ventures in the future.