Pathanamthitta: The High Court has directed to hand over the case of Mathai, a farm owner who died under mysterious circumstances while in the custody of the forest department, to the CBI. The order was issued after considering a petition filed by Mathai’s wife. The High Court’s decision came in the wake of the government’s decision to hand over the probe to the CBI.

However, the court asked the petitioners why the body was not buried. The High Court told Mathai’s wife that steps should be taken for his burial. The body of Mathai, who died on July 28, has not yet been cremated.

Mathai fell to death in a well while taking evidence in Chittar. Mathai was taken into custody in the case of destroying the camera of the forest department. On the same day, the relatives alleged that there was a mystery in the death. The relatives said that the body would not be cremated without taking action against the culprits. The High Court had sought an explanation from the Pathanamthitta SP stating that a detailed inquiry was needed into the incident.

Thiruvananthapuram: Junior nurses on indefinite strike in the state. The strike will start tomorrow in protest of the non-receipt of a pay hike for four years. Junior nurses demand that the basic pay of staff nurses be made available to junior nurses.

At present, the salary of junior nurses is Rs 13,900. The junior nurses have demanded that this be increased to 27,800. An indefinite strike was declared by 375 students from seven medical colleges in the state. Junior nurses allege that the health department does not consider them to be involved in corona duty.

Thiruvananthapuram: The Enforcement Directorate will question CEO UV Jose in connection with the Life Mission controversy. The Life Mission MoU was signed by UV Jose. Further documents related to this will be called by the Enforcement Directorate.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan summoned files related to the Red Crescent in the controversy. The Chief Minister has demanded the files amid allegations that the MoU was signed without following due process.

The files of the law department and the local government department were called. As Life Mission does not have a secretariat system, its files are handled by the Local Government Department. The draft MoU was reviewed by the Law Department. Based on this, the Chief Minister called the files from these two departments.

Munnar: Another body found in the Rajamala tragedy. The death toll rose to 63. Seven people are yet to be identified in the accident. Most of the bodies found are unidentified days after the tragedy.

The government has decided to continue the search until the last person is found. The search is being carried out by digging the soil from the disaster area and moving it to another place. Five dogs from the Dog Squad in Ernakulam and Idukki districts have been brought to the search team for help. The victims were workers and their families who had been living in Munnar.

Thiruvananthapuram: Covid-19 has been confirmed in 2,333 people in Kerala today. This is the highest case confirmed in Kerala sofar. Kerala health minister KK Shailaja teacher informed. Thiruvananthapuram 540, Malappuram 322, Alappuzha 253, Ernakulam 230, Kottayam 203, Kasaragod 174, Kannur 126, Thrissur 97, Pathanamthitta 87, Kozhikode 78, Kollam 77, Palakkad 65, Idukki 64 and Wayanad 17 were confirmed today.

Today 7 Covid-19 deaths have been confirmed. This brings the total death toll in the state to 182. Today, 17 health workers are affected by the disease. There are 19 new hotspots in Kerala today. There are currently 572 hotspots in the state.

Thiruvananthapuram: The Central Government announced that two main airports in the country, Thiruvananthapuram, Jaipur, and Guwahati will be operated in the PPP ( Public-Private Partnership) model. The Union Ministry has rejected Kerala’s demand for the operation of the Thiruvananthapuram Airport. It was also decided to hand over the management to a private company.

“The Union Cabinet has approved a proposal for leasing out Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram airports, of Airports Authority of India (AAI), through Public-Private Partnership,” Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said during the press briefing.

The development comes a day after Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that he will present a proposal before the Union Cabinet about the privatization of airports across the country.

The Thiruvananthapuram Airport will be run by Adani Group. The state government had planned to form a company to take over the management of the airport. Meanwhile, AK Antony protested against the move to hand over the Thiruvananthapuram airport to a private company. Antony said protests against the central government’s move to sell off strategic public sector undertakings under Covid’s cover should be strong.

The central government had earlier decided to privatize the Thiruvananthapuram airport. But the state government came out against it. But despite this, the central government is handing over the airport to a private company.

Earlier, the Center had awarded a 50-year contract for the operation and development of six airports in the country, including Thiruvananthapuram. Depending on the number of passengers, the contractor must pay a fee to the Airport Authority. Users will have the power to charge a user fee. However, state government sources had earlier said that privatization would not be allowed and that steps had been taken to make the airport available under Tial anyway.