Senior politician Cherkalam Abdullah passes away
Kasargod: Senior politician and former minister Cherkalam Abdullah, 76, passed away at his home on Friday morning.
Cherkalam Abdullah, who was admitted to a private hospital in Mangaluru for the last few days, was brought to the home late yesterday night as per doctors’ opinion. He breathed his last at his residence at 8:20 am today.
The former legislator of Manjeshwar Cherkalam Abdullah was the treasurer of the Muslim League in the state.
Cherkalam, who was a prominent leader of the Congress-led Muslim league, was elected as MLA from Manjeshwar for four times from 1987 to 2001 and was Minister of State in the AK Antony cabinet in 2001.
Cherkalam Abdulla, a resident of Cherkala in Kasargod, had entered the assembly in 1987 by defeating BJP's H. Shankar Alva. With this victory, the Congress-led UDF entered into the Manjeshwara Assembly constituency. UDF once again won the polls in 1992 when the Muslim league leader Cherkalam defeated the most popular BJP leader KG Marar by a margin of 1,072 votes.
Cherkalam, who was elected for the third time by defeating BJP’s CK Padmanabhan in 1996, repeated the triumph over CK Padmanabhan in 2001 and entered into the assembly for the fourth term. Cherkalam, who served as the Muslim League and UDF district president for many years, won the Kannadigas by stirring up Kannada at the Assembly session.
Cherkalam Abdullah is the first MLA to be sworn-in in the Kannada language in Kerala Legislative Assembly.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
