Abdul Razak retains Manjeshwar; BJP loses by 89 votes

Davanagere, Jan 16: Congress leader D K Shivakumar on Thursday turned down all the recent media reports of him aspiring for the coveted Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committe (KPCC) president post.

Terming all the news, doing rounds, as baseless, Shivakumar said that he never made any attempt to become KPCC president. "All I want to do is work for my people and party", he asserted.

Referring to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa's visit to Harihar's 'Our Lady of Health Minor Basilica' programme, Shivakumar said."I'm not concerned about what others are doing, everyone is free to take part in the programmes."

Bengaluru, Apr 5: The COVID-19 related lockdown has substantially improved the air quality of Bengaluru, taking it from satisfactory level to good, a senior state pollution control board offcial said here on Sunday.

"During the course of the lockdown 19 problem, we reached good position from satisfactory.

It is between zero to 50 AQI (Air Quality Index) now. We have good quality air," the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board member secretary Basavaraj Patil told PTI.

He said the indicator for knowing the air quality in

"If the AQI is zero to 50 then it is good. If it is 50 to 100 then it is satisfactory. 101 to 150 is moderate and if it is 151 to 200, then it is poor, he explained.

Patil said as per available recrods, there has been a 60 to 65 per cent reduction in pollution during the lockdown.

The city railway station and Peenya industrial area, which used to be among the areas with highest AQI, has seen pollution levels come down significantly, he said.

Another major contributor of pollution was construction activities, which too had ground to a halt due to the lockdown, resulting in zero dust emission.

Patil opined that the improved air quality would boost the immune system of the people.

"It will improve the immune system of people, including those who have breathing problems like asthma," he said.

He asked the public to learn lessons from the lockdown and later switch to sustainable means of transport such as public transport, walking and cycling,.

"We can still reduce the pollution load even after the lockdown is over," Patil said.

Mangaluru, May 11: Hundreds of migrant labourers today gathered at a service bus stand in Mangaluru to return to Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.

They were working in different parts of Dakshina Kannada and remained stranded without a job after the announcement of lockdown.

Labourers said that they have not registered with Seva Sindhu portal to avail pass for travelling outside the state.

Though all the people who gathered wore a mask, the physical distancing norm was not followed.

Already three Shramik trains from Mangaluru had left for Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar with nearly 3,500 stranded labourers in the last two days.

The gathered labourers are anticipating that they would be allowed to travel to their destinations in the Shramik trains that will leave in the evening from Mangaluru.

The doctors and paramedical staff who have arrived the spot are checking the health of the labourers before allowing them to travel to the railway station.

The cost of a ticket to Uttar Pradesh is Rs 1,040 per person (which includes bus fare from service bus stand to railway station, food and water bottle).