Basheer had saved me from assailants in Saudi 25 years ago, recalls his Hindu neighbor

coastaldigest.com news network
January 8, 2018

Mangaluru, Jan 8: 50-year-old Prabhakar, a resident of Akash Bhavan locality in the city left shell-shocked after hearing the death news of his best friend and neighbor Ahmed Basheer on Sunday.

48-year-old, Basheer, who was running a fast food restaurant near Koattara Chowki for past one year breathed his last on January 7 at a hospital, four days after a gang of four miscreants attacked him with sharp weapons on January 3. The attack took place at around 9:30 p.m. when he was returning home after closing his restaurant. Ironically, the only reason for the attack was that he appeared like a Muslim. The assailants, who wanted to kill a Muslim man, did not even know the name of the victim. Two ambulance drivers, who saw Basheer lying in a pool of blood, had shifted him to a hospital.

After working in Saudi Arabia for around 25 years Basheer had quit his job and settled in Mangaluru in 2016 as his family forced him to stop working abroad. Later he had purchased a house in Akash Bhavan and opened a fast food restaurant in partnership with one of his relatives.

Both in Saudi Arabia and Mangaluru he had friends from different faiths. Prabhakar, who belongs to Hindu community is one among them. He is not only a neighbor of Basheer in Mangaluru, but also had worked with him for 15 years in the Arab Kingdom.

Prabhakar recalls that Basheer had saved him from a group of expatriate Muslims, who wanted to attack him in 1993 in Saudi Arabia.

“The intended attack was, perhaps, in retaliation for communal violence in Dakshina Kannada district after demolition of Babri mosque. It had spread its ugly wings to the gulf nation as well. I was cornered by a group of assailants. But, Basheer stood by my side and warned the assailants of dire consequences if they tried to harm me,” Prabhakar said.

"Prabhakar is our man, nobody dare touch him," a teary-eyed Prabhakar recalled Basheer as saying when the mob came to attack him. “The group eventually left and it is because of him my life was saved,” he added.

“Basheer was known for humanity. He mingled freely with all people, irrespective of their caste or religion. He never sent anyone who approached him for financial help empty-handed. His loss is huge shock to me and my family,” said Prabhakar.

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mohammad.n
 - 
Tuesday, 9 Jan 2018

Thank you Mr. Prabhakar, people like you make us feel that we have peace loving hindu friends around us. That was a brotherly gesture in humanity. I hope such relations increase so that evil minded people get decreased.

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 18,2020

Mangaluru: As many as 178 passengers arrived in the coastal city from Dubai as the second flight under the Vande Bharat Mission landed at the Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) at 7.55am on Monday.

Among 178 passengers, there were 99 male, 67 female, 11 children and one infant.

Dakshina Kannada deputy commissioner Sindhu B Rupesh said that all the necessary arrangements had been made to ensure that the passengers were not inconvenienced in any way. 

“All of them have been provided with health kits, sufficient food, sim cards, etc. We have also set up facilities at the airport where they can exchange foreign currency. The emigration process was conducted only after each passenger was subjected to screening by health department personnel at the airport. We will have their throat swabs tested for Covid-19 on Tuesday,” Sindhu said.

Personnel attired in personal protective equipment gear shifted the passengers’ luggage, while buses had been arranged for transporting them to quarantine facilities, Sindhu added.

Probationary IAS officer Rahul Shinde, additional deputy commissioner MJ Roopa, district health officer Dr Ramachandra Bairy and MIA director VV Rao were among those who received the returning Indians along with the DC at the airport.

Public, including friends and relatives of the passengers, were barred entry to the airport.

Rooms in as many as 10 hotels have been reserved to quarantine passengers flying in to Mangaluru from the Gulf. The rooms are priced between Rs 1,000 and Rs 5,400. Meanwhile, those unable to afford rent will be accommodated at government hostels.

 

Mangaluru, May 18: The second repatriation flight to the coastal Karnataka from Dubai landed at Mangaluru International Airport at 7.45 pm. today.Mangaluru: As many as 178 passengers arrived in the coastal city from Dubai as the second flight under the Vande Bharat Mission landed at the Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) at 7.55am on Monday.

 

Dakshina Kannada deputy commissioner Sindhu B Rupesh said that all the necessary arrangements had been made to ensure that the passengers were not inconvenienced in any way.

 

“All of them have been provided with health kits, sufficient food, sim cards, etc. We have also set up facilities at the airport where they can exchange foreign currency. The emigration process was conducted only after each passenger was subjected to screening by health department personnel at the airport. We will have their throat swabs tested for Covid-19 on Tuesday,” Sindhu said.

 

Personnel attired in personal protective equipment gear shifted the passengers’ luggage, while buses had been arranged for transporting them to quarantine facilities, Sindhu added.

 

Probationary IAS officer Rahul Shinde, additional deputy commissioner MJ Roopa, district health officer Dr Ramachandra Bairy and MIA director VV Rao were among those who received the returning Indians along with the DC at the airport.

 

Public, including friends and relatives of the passengers, were barred entry to the airport.

 

Rooms in as many as 10 hotels have been reserved to quarantine passengers flying in to Mangaluru from the Gulf. The rooms are priced between Rs 1,000 and Rs 5,400. Meanwhile, those unable to afford rent will be accommodated at government hostels.

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News Network
June 30,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 30: Private medical colleges in Bengaluru have agreed to join hands with the Karnataka government for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

The representatives from private medical colleges have promised the state government to provide 2000 beds immediately and another 4500 beds will be added within a week.

The development took place as Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Tuesday held a second round of meeting with representatives of private hospitals at Vidhana Soudha over COVID-19. 

The Chief Minister and Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar held separate meetings with the representatives from private colleges administration and all the private colleges have assured to extend their support to the government decision. 

"There are 11 private and three government medical colleges in the city and we will get about 6500 beds from these for COVID treatment," Dr Sudhakar informed media after the meeting.

He further said, "These facilities including doctors and staff will be made available to the government within a week and the beds will be allocated to COVID patients through BBMP's centralised system. The insurance facility will be extended to the doctors and staff serving in these private hospitals also."

PG students in private medical colleges and other staff will be utilised in COVID Care Centres, the minister said.

"There will be some changes in the treatment protocols going forward. The decision regarding this will be taken in the meeting that will be held in the evening under the chairmanship of the CM," the minister explained.

According to him, symptomatic patients, persons aged above 60 years and those with comorbidities like diabetes, hypertension and serious kidney, liver, lungs and heart-related ailments will be admitted to hospitals. 

Other asymptomatic persons will be monitored in COVID care centres. Detailed notification with these guidelines will be released tomorrow, the minister said.

The meeting was chaired by CM BS Yediyurappa and Deputy CM Ashwatnarayana, Ministers Basavaraj Bommai, R Ashoka and senior officials were also present.

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News Network
February 27,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 27: The Centre has adopted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mantra of "Make in India', for India and the world" to build strong defence and security infrastructure in the country, said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh after inaugurating the new Light Combat Helicopter Production Hangar at Helicopter Division in Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Complex here on Thursday.

According to an official statement, the Defence Minister said in the last five years, India has made significant progress towards manufacturing military equipment indigenously under the 'Make in India' initiative.

Stressing that the defence industry plays a major role in the economic development of the country, Singh lauded the significant contribution of organisations like HAL.

Highlighting the Rs 35,000 crore exports target set for the coming years, he expressed confidence that HAL, through its various platforms, will contribute significantly to achieve this milestone.

According to the statement, Rajnath Singh commended HAL for being the backbone of the Indian Air Force and meeting the requirements of the Armed Forces.

"The HAL has excelled both in operations and finance in the last five years. It has achieved operational clearance on seven platforms, including Light Combat Aircraft and Light Combat Helicopter, and overhauled platforms like Hawk and SU 30 MKI," he said.

He also appreciated that HAL had a turnover of Rs 19,705 crore till March 2019 and it gave shareholders a healthy dividend of 198 per cent.

HAL also apprised the Defence Minister on the progress of the new design and development programme of indigenous Indian Multi-Role Helicopter (IMRH), the statement informed.

The full-scale mock-up was showcased to Rajnath Singh. The IMRH is proposed as a replacement to the existing medium-lift helicopters such as Mi17's, Kamovs and Seakings which will phase out in the next eight to ten years.

LCH is a 5.5-tonne class combat helicopter designed and developed by HAL. It is powered by two Shakti engines and inherits many technical features of the Advanced Light Helicopter. LCH has the distinction of being the first attack helicopter to land in Forward Bases at Siachen, 4,700 mts above sea level with 500kg load.

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