Film Employees Federation Of Kerala Performs Housewarming Ceremony For A Welfare Project

Film Employees Federation of Kerala President and filmmaker Sibi Malayil performed the housewarming ceremony of the second house under a welfare project initiated by the Kerala Cine Drivers Union. This Union is affiliated with the Film Employees Federation of Kerala. This housewarming ceremony of the second house was held at Venjaramoodu in Thiruvananthapuram on September 5 (Thursday). The Ente Veedu project aims at helping union members, who are unable to achieve their objective of having a shelter of their own. According to a release, such homes are constructed by using the welfare fund of the union. The first house included in this project was completed in Mayilumpuram, a small village in Ottappalam Block in Palakkad District of Kerala.

Kerala Cine Drivers Union General Secretary Anish Joseph, Treasurer Santosh KK, Vice Presidents Hassan Ameer and Sajeesh Kumar were present at the occasion. Secretaries Thomas Sebastian, Sujith SV and Committee Members Ani Gurutipala, Babu Ottapalam, Arun Vallarpadam, Suresh Palakkad, Rajesh VD, and Jeevan Paul were also present. Suresh Kumar, Sudeep K Uday, former Vishnu Union President Shashi TG Members Sagireesh, Manoj, Ani Pallichal, Nikhil, Lijin and Hariprasad also presided over the ceremony. Other members including Santosh, Jalil, Anil Rajan, Manesh, Arshak, Vijayakumar, Sanalkumar and office manager Jibin were present as well.

FEFKA and the Kerala Cine Drivers’ Union had teamed up on a similar initiative in 2023 as well. The FEFKA has initiated steps to ensure safe travel for women in the Malayalam film industry. In the first phase, five women drivers were appointed in the Kerala Cine Drivers Union, under the FEFKA, the parent body of 21 associations that include the film associations. The woman drivers started working at the locations within three months. Loans at low interest rates were provided to them by the Malayalam Cine-Technicians Co-Operative Society for buying their vehicles.

Before this announcement, there were 560 drivers in the FEFKA-Cine Drivers Union. All of them are men and of which, 15 are driving caravans. The annual membership fee is Rs 7,900. The recruitment of the women drivers was made by giving concessions in the 3-year membership fee. Women were also trained in handling the caravans and vehicles with more than 5 seats.