PM Modi to virtually inaugurate Kochi-Mangaluru GAIL pipeline
Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 24: Prime Minister Narendra Modi would virtually inaugurate the Kochi-Mangaluru GAIL pipeline on January 5, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Thursday.
Vijayan told reporters here that it was a matter of happinessthat the Prime Minister had agreed to launch the natural gas pipeline project.
"Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan called yesterday. He informed that the Prime Minister consented to virtually inaugurate the Kochi-Mangaluru GAIL pipeline on January 5," he said.
It was a matter of happiness that a project, believed to never materialise, was finally ready and the Prime Minister himself was inaugurating it, the Chief Minister added.
The 444-km long pipeline was launched in 2009 at an estimated cost of Rs 2,915 crore and was to be commissioned in 2014.
But opposition on safety and commercial grounds wherein the land price was the main hurdle, both from political parties and the public, had left the project hanging fire.
This had led to the project cost nearly doubling to over Rs 5,750 crore.
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Man arrested with Rs 2.54-crore heroin in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.
The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.
Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.
The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.
Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.
The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.
