Latest news with #A.Jayathilak
The Hindu
3 days ago
- Business
- The Hindu
Sabari rail project: Railway Board holds meet with Chief Secretary
A team from the Railway Board held discussions with Chief Secretary A. Jayathilak in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday to explore ways to take the Sabari Rail project forward. Official sources said the delegation, which included Additional Railway Board Member Rajesh Agarwal, Chief Administrative Officer Om Prakash, and Kerala Rail Development Corporation (KRDC) Managing Director Ajith Kumar, held deliberations on cost-sharing arrangements and land acquisition for the project. Another round of meeting to deliberate in detail on these aspects will be held soon While the State government has expressed only conditional willingness to share project costs, the Railways continue to insist on a 50:50 cost-sharing model. It has also asked the State to bear a portion of the expenditure already incurred. In addition, the State is expected to complete land acquisition up to Erumely. The Railways have agreed to begin construction once this is achieved. The 110-km Angamaly–Erumely route was first announced in the Railway Budget for 1997–98. So far, land has been acquired for an 8-km stretch and construction has been completed on a 7-km section between Angamaly and Kalady.
The Hindu
12-06-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Kerala State IT mission organises AI conference
The Kerala State IT Mission (KSITM) in collaboration with the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) and the ICT Academy of Kerala on Thursday organised 'K-AI: The Guiding Hand of Smart Governance', a conference aimed at fostering structured dialogue between government departments and the start-up ecosystem to apply Artificial Intelligence (AI) in addressing governance challenges. The forum brought together a diverse group of stakeholders, including senior government officials, start-up innovators, and domain experts, to discuss and develop AI-enabled solutions based on real-world departmental use cases. Chief Secretary A. Jayathilak inaugurated the event. Special Secretary, Electronics & IT Department, Seeram Sambasiva Rao, delivered the keynote address. Sandip Kumar, Director, Kerala State IT Mission, was present and Anoop Ambika, CEO, KSUM, were present. A flagship initiative aimed at accelerating the adoption of AI solutions across government departments, Kerala AI (K-AI) envisions a collaborative ecosystem where emerging technologies meet public service delivery, enabling smarter, faster, and citizen-centric governance. Representatives of KSUM-backed start-ups made presentation on AI-based solutions that are helpful for various governing processes including data analysis and mapping systems. Various departments and State establishments that participated in the workshop presented some of the problems peculiar to each of them to ascertain if AI-based solutions developed by the startup ecosystem in the state could be leveraged.
The Hindu
25-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Kerala Govt to form rapid response teams to handle containers, oil spills from Liberia container ship that sunk off Kochi coast
The State government has put the nine coastal districts of Kerala on alert and decided to constitute rapid response teams (RRTs) given the high possibility of drifting containers and oil spill from the Liberia-flagged vessel, MSC Elsa 3 that had capsized in the Arabian Sea, washing ashore. The RRTs will be deployed in all coastal districts for the safe removal of the containers and oil slicks, the State government said after a high-level meeting convened by Chief Secretary A. Jayathilak in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday. The meeting approved a set of measures for handling the contingency. Two RRTs each under the supervision of the Factories and Boilers Department will be deployed in Thrissur and the southern coastal districts. One RRT each will be deployed in the northern coastal districts. The RRTs will be equipped with excavators and cranes for handling the cargo. The Kerala State Pollution Control Board will lead two RRTs each in Thrissur and the southern coastal districts and one RRT each in the northern ones for handling oil slicks from the vessel. It is estimated that the containers have a higher probability of washing ashore in Alappuzha, Kollam, Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram districts, according to the government. The District Disaster Management Authorities, the police and other departments have been directed to provide all support to the RRTs. Coast Guard, Navy, and the Ports Department have been directed to deploy booms and skimmers for containing and removing any oil spills that approach the Kerala coast. Priority is being given to the safety of the public and the environment, and protecting the fisheries sector, the government said. The government has also issued directions to the local bodies to ensure that the public keep a safe distance from the containers or suspicious objects that have floated ashore. The public has been asked to maintain a distance of at least 200 metres from such objects and also call the emergency number 112 to alert the authorities. Fishing has been prohibited within 20 nautical miles of the sunken ship. Fishers also have been urged to call 112 on sighting the containers. According to the State government, the ship has sunk 14.6 nautical miles off Kerala. It is estimated that around 100 containers have fallen overboard from the vessel. The ship's fuel too has leaked, the government said.
