Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan appealed to the shareholders of the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) to contribute a part of last year’s dividend towards flood relief in the state.
According to reports, the AGM approved a dividend payout of 25% to around 19,000 shareholders of CIAL. The turnover of CIAL in the 2017-18 financial year was Rs 553 crore of which the net profit is Rs 158 crore. CIAL press release also stated that the contribution by its employees to the Chief Ministers Disaster Relief Fund (CMDRF) was Rs 2.9 crore.
Speaking at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of CIAL, Pinarayi Vijayan, who is also the Chairman of CIAL, said that the airport, which was shut down for 15 days due to flooding, was implementing a master plan to prevent such incidents from happening in the future.
He also said that Terminal 1, which is undergoing renovation, will be ready for domestic operations by December. The meeting was also attended by state finance minister TM Thomas Isaac, Minister for Water Resources Mathew T Thomas, Minister for Agriculture VS Sunil Kumar and CIAL Managing Director VJ Kurien.
Pinarayi Vijayan has been appealing to people all across the globe to donate to the CMDRF to help rebuild the state. The Kerala government has launched the ‘Salary Challenge’ where government employees were asked to donate a month’s salary to CMDRF to help the state get back on its feet.
Kerala saw one of the worst floods in its history in August in which around 350 people lost their lives and around 13 lakh people were displaced from their homes. As the state received unprecedented rainfall over a few days, the dams in the state filled up to their full capacity, forcing the government to open the shutters.