Fire at Writers’ Buildings in Kolkata
Kolkata: A fire broke out at the heritage Writers’ Buildings here Saturday and three fire tenders were rushed to put out the blaze, an official said. “The fire out broke out inside the transport department office at around 12 noon. Three fire tenders were pressed into service which doused the flame,” said a fire service official. “Prima facie it appears the fire was caused by an electrical short circuit,” the official added. No casualty or injuries were reported. The centuries old Writers Buildings which traditionally housed the state secretariat has been closed for renovations and the offices have temporarily shifted to HRBC building in the neighbouring Howrah. (IANS)
8-yr-old killed as friend fires gun accidentally
Azamgarh: An eight-year-old boy was on Saturday killed in Kaptanganj area here when his friend accidentally fired from his father’s gun, police said. Ajesh Kumar was killed when his friend Bhimbati Yadav fired from the licenced gun of his father, SP Dinesh Chandra Dubey said. He said a case has been lodged in this connection. (PTI)
Kochi doctors perform Kerala’s first pancreas transplant
Kochi: A hospital here has successfully conducted Kerala’s first combined pancreas-kidney transplant, the third such in India. The highly complex surgery was conducted on 35-year-old S. Syed Yunus Shahir, an engineer from Palakkad. The donor was a brain-dead 38-year-old patient. Thanks to the transplant, Shahir is now eating ice cream at will and is all set to return home after a nearly two-week stay at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS). Ramachandran N. Menon, the surgical gastro transplant surgeon, told IANS that this patient first came to them about two months back and after a series of tests he was cleared for the surgery and then the wait for a donor began. He said as per the rules of organ transplant and donation, the Kerala Network for Organ Sharing (KNOS), the state government’s nodal agency for organ retrieval and sharing, played a key role in facilitating the smooth transfer of pancreas and one kidney from a brain dead person. (IANS)
Shabana starts work on short film on domestic violence
Mumbai: Veteran actress and social activist Shabana Azmi, who often raises her voice on gender issues, Saturday began work on a short film on domestic violence. “First day of filming for #Nasheed Faruqis short film#OUTSIDE on domestic violence. Looking 4ward 2 b directed by a girl I’ve seen as a child,” Shabana posted on her Twitter page. The actress, along with her godchild Namrata Goyal, run NGO Mijwan Welfare Society (MWS). It aims to empower rural India with a focus on the girlchild and women. Apart from that, she has fearlessly condemned wrong doings against the female gender. “Outside” is being produced in association with domestic violence charities in US, Britain and India. The film’s plotline as described on its official Facebook page reads: “A young girl witnesses an act of brutality she cannot understand. Meanwhile a mesmerising Hindi film song beguiles her away from harsh reality. But she has seen too much and is driven to repair what has been broken. “Who will repair her? Will she be left a ghost, unseeing and uncanny, ruined and emptied by what she has witnessed?” Faruqi is not just directing the short film, but has also penned its script and screenplay. It will also feature Christopher Simpson, Bhasker Patel and Yasmeen Siddiqui. (IANS)
K’taka govt to help create 5 lac jobs
in textile sector
Bangalore: Saying that Karnataka government was prepared to provide various facilities and sops for investors in the textile sector, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said that it was targeted to create five lakh jobs in the sector in next four years. He said the stress by the government was on infrastructure development in brown field units by extending special facility to the existing units to expand their manufacturing facilities across the state. The Chief Minister said ‘under the Karnataka Textile Policy 2013-18, we have taken some bold steps in making this policy growth-oriented like investment bracket-wise incentives to ensure proper spread of the industry.’ He said the state looked forward to have over Rs 10,000 crore of investments during the current policy period, with an expected employment generation of over five lakh jobs. (PTI)
He said special focus for development of backward areas by providing more support for Textile Parks in such zones, supporting existing industry by providing key common infrastructure through Brownfield project developments and supporting integrated units with some additional incentives.
“The government had issued clear guidelines for Mega Project Investments and will encourage setting up of Major Textile Parks and Textile Clusters vis-a-vis skill development programmes.
The policy aims to promote entrepreneurship and attract investors, so that, we together can drive the State on higher growth tangents,” the Chief Minister said.
He said care had been taken to ensure that an inclusive approach of development right from the hand looms sector up to the high end garmenting sector of the textile value chain is supported as a part of the policy.
Mr Siddaramaiah said during the last policy period investment proposal of over Rs 5000 crore was received, out of which around Rs 3500 crore of investment was already grounded with requisite employment created.
These investments have also led to employment of over 2.5 Lakh people across the State.
These investments largely have come in the form of Mega Project Investments, the project size being over Rs 100 crore, Micro Small Medium Enterprises – based Industry and Cluster – based textile parks.
The State has encouraged setting up of smaller textile parks in various potential districts such as Bagalkot, Belgaum, Bijapur, Chamrajnagar, Chikballapur and Mysore.
A Mega Textile Park is also being planned on a 1000-acre plot in Yadgir, many of you have desired to explore possibility of setting up units in this park. ‘We would completely facilitate you, in your effort,’ he added. (UNI)