Kerala CM's call to donate month's salary gets good response
Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 27 : Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's appeal to people to contribute a month's salary in the wake of the flood disaster has elicited a good response.
Governor P. Sathasivam said on Monday that the appeal was reasonable.
"As the first citizen of the state, I have decided to do it and will hand over the cheque to the Chief Secretary," said Sathasivam, a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
He had contributed Rs 1 lakh earlier to the Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund. On Monday, he handed over a cheque for Rs 250,000 as the balance amount towards his contribution of one month's salary.
Vijayan's appeal, made through Asianet TV channel, on Sunday has gone viral on the social media. He has suggested that those interested in contributing a month's salary can do it over a period of 10 months.
Advocate General C.P. Sudhakara Prasad said: "I had already handed over Rs 1 lakh when the CM made his call asking everyone to contribute. Now, heeding to his call to hand over a month's salary, I will do it when I get my next month's salary."
Kerala Police chief Loknath Behra told the media that he would pay his one month's salary in one instalment.
"I have got numerous calls from my colleagues who too have promised to contribute one month's salary. Kerala will bounce back very quickly," said Behra.
Senior Congress legislator and former Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan said he had also decided to hand over his one month's salary too.
"But the state government should ensure that they stop all extravagance," he said.
Mohammed Hanish, a senior bureaucrat who heads the Kochi Metro, also promised to donate a month's salary. Many other officials and Ministers have also made the pledge.
The social media has welcomed Vijayan's call.
Ever since monsoon rains began lashing Kerala on May 29, a total of 417 people have died. The flood fury this month has caused unprecedented destruction and forced more than one million people to take shelter in relief camps.
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IAF to hold 2-day wargame along frontier with Pakistan: NOTAM issued
New Delhi, May 6 (PTI): The Indian Air Force will carry out a two-day mega military exercise along the border with Pakistan from Wednesday that will involve all the frontline fighter jets including Rafale, Su-30 and Jaguar aircraft, sources in the defence establishment said on Tuesday.
The exercise is taking place amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan over the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people.
India's civil aviation authorities have already issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) for the major air exercise that will largely take place along the southern and western section of the Indo-Pakistan border.
India's frontline fighter jets including the Rafale, Su-30 MKI, MiG-29, Mirage-2000, Tejas and AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) aircraft are set to feature in the exercise, the sources said.
In the course of the exercise, the IAF will simulate enemy targets on ground and in the air with deadly precision, they said.
The militaries of both India and Pakistan are on a high alert following rising tensions between the two nations.
Soon after the Pahalgam terror attack, India, citing "cross-border linkages" to the strike, promised severe punishment to those involved in it.
In a high-level meeting with the top defence brass on April 29, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the armed forces have "complete operational freedom" to decide on the mode, targets and timing of India's response to the terror attack.
Air Chief Marshal A P Singh met Prime Minister Modi on Sunday and the Chief of Air Staff briefed him about the IAF's operational readiness.
On Saturday, Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi apprised the prime minister on the overall situation in the critical sea lanes in the Arabian Sea.
