157 acres needed for expansion of airport

Industries Minister to oversee expansion work

Package for rehabilitation of affected families

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government will form a special unit to acquire 157 acres for the expansion of the Karipur airport and implement a package for the rehabilitation of affected families, Revenue Minister K.P.

Plantation owners' strategy draws flak

PALAKKAD: Four environmental organisations have demanded that the State government and the Forest Department take stern action against some plantation owners who were trying to destroy the fragile ecology and environment of the Nelliampathy forest area in Palakkad district.

In a statement released at a media conference here on Wednesday, Tony Thomas of

S.Ramachandran Pillai

Kozhikode: S. Ramachandran Pillai, Polit Bureau member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), on Tuesday, demanded that the Union government make public-sector investments in genetically modified (GM) technology.

At a press conference here, Mr. Pillai said such investments would end exploitation of farmers by multinational companies in the field.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: R.V.G. Menon, noted social activist and former president of the Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP), has endorsed the State government's stand that Genetically Modified (GM) crops will not be permitted in the State till their safety is proved beyond doubt, but sought an open mind on the issue.

In an article in Janayugom, a CPI publication, on Tuesday, Prof.

85 per cent of all large dams across the world will cross their projected life span by 2020.

KOCHI:

Asks the three local bodies involved to file statements

Parties told to maintain status quo till new order

Technical unit to monitor plant operation

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ombudsman for Local Self-government Institutions M.R.

Experts discuss shrinking farmland, effects of pesticides at a seminar organised as part of Gandhi Utsav.

Thiruvananthapuram: Agricultural scientists, farmers, doctors, environmentalists and bankers who participated in a seminar series organised here last week in connection with the ongoing Gandhi Utsav, highlighted the importance of organic farming as a sustainable method of agriculture.

Th

Abdul Latheef Naha

MALAPPURAM: Sand from the Kadalundi estuary is being mined recklessly and illegally, posing a threat to the bird sanctuary of Kadalundi.

Ornithologists and environmental experts have been warning that disappearance of mudflats in the estuary would lead to destruction of the sanctuary.

Although the Kadalundi panchayat permits mining of sand in a limited way from quite a

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Mayor K.

G.