For Benny Behanan, MLA, it was a case of the proverbial slip between the cup and the lip. Agonisingly, it happened to him not once, but twice.
Since victory from his favourite Thrikkakara constituency seemed a foregone conclusion, or at least his camp believed so, everything seemed set for a second consecutive term in the Assembly when the mandalam committee unanimously nominated him as the candidate.
The first came when Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee chief V.M. Sudheeran dealt a hammer blow by proposing more names. But all seemed well as Chief Minister Oommen Chandy fiercely guarded the candidature of his five trusted lieutenants, including Mr. Behanan. Then, within 24 hours, everything turned topsy-turvy again as he found himself on the wrong side of the party high command.
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Now Mr. Behanan has posters proclaiming his many achievements as MLA, pasted at every nook and corner of his constituency, staring at him, serving as a painful reminder of how his fortunes went kaput.
With the Vishu season around, the Ernakulam Rural police have begun intensifying raids on firecracker manufacturing units in Vypeen and North Paravur, home to numerous small scale cracker units.
Officials said the raids were being carried out in view of reports about illegal cracker units operating from houses and shops. Certain units, which had obtained licence in the past but failed to get it renewed, were also engaged in illegally manufacturing crackers.
A raid carried out by the Munambam police last week revealed that many of the household units kept a stock of explosives much higher than their permitted limit. Besides, several of them operated without meeting the standard industrial safety practices.
“There is no fire extinguisher or a water tank to douse fire in many of these units,” officials said, adding that two cases have been registered in this connection.
As part of the drive, the police have also sought the support of the local people to identify firecracker units functioning without valid permits from the panchayat, police or pollution control board.
M.P. Praveen and
Hiran Unnikrishnan