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Mangaluru/ Bengaluru, May 10: Nearly 11,000 non-resident Kannadigas who are seeking repatriation from various countries across the world should be ready to shell out a huge amount for a two-week private quarantine in Karnataka before reaching their home.

The Kannadigas stranded in Gulf countries including UAE and Saudi Arabia have already expressed shock over the high airfare for repatriation during coronavirus lockdown. Another shocker is heavy quarantine fee once they reach their home state.

Officials in Mangaluru and Bengaluru have confirmed that administration has fixed charges for quarantine facilities starting from Rs 1,200 up to Rs 4,500, including food per day. 14 day quarantine will be mandatory for all healthy and asymptomatic international passengers. Hence, they should be ready to pay Rs 16,800  to Rs 63,000.

The other option is government quarantine centres: hostels run by social welfare, backward classes welfare and minority welfare departments but they are far from satisfactory. This is in stark contrast to the plush government quarantine facilities in Kerala.

In Mangaluru

The first repatriation flight to Mangaluru International Airport is expected to land on Tuesday, May 12 from Dubai.

The quarantine facilities include lodges, hostels and service apartments. Rates are fixed based on four categories: basic, economy, medium and premium. The basic facilities are mainly hostels of educational institutions, and the rest are budget and star hotels, said Rahul Shinde, probationary IAS officer, who is In-charge of the quarantine facilities for those being repatriated.

In Bengaluru

As many as 350 international passengers are set to arrive in Bengaluru at 3 am on Monday, May 11. So far, nobody has opted for government quarantine facilities, according to Lakshman Reddy, Joint Director, Social Welfare Department.

In Bengaluru, there are 55 hostels of the social welfare department, 51 of the backward classes welfare department and 12 of the minority welfare department. “We provide them with three square meals a day,” he added.

Bengaluru, May 21: Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa today slammed Law Minister JC Madhuswamy for yelling at a woman farmer in Kolar, an incident that attracted widespread criticism. 

The incident happened on Wednesday when Madhuswamy, who is also the minor irrigation minister, was inspecting the Koramangala-Challaghatta (KC) Valley project, under which Bengaluru’s sewage is treated and pumped into lakes in Kolar. 

During his visit, farmer Nalini Gowda questioned Madhuswamy on the encroachment of the 1,022-acre S Agrahara lake. At one point, Madhuswamy lost his cool and yelled, “Aye! Shut your mouth, rascal,” and asked the police to take her away. Before this, Madhuswamy told her, “Make a request. I’m a very bad man. You can only air your grievance. Don’t command us.” 

A video of this exchange was aired by news channels. 

“What (Madhuswamy) said is not right. I have warned him. None can forgive such an explicit manner of talking with a woman. That, too, behaving like that being a minister doesn’t bode well. I will talk to that woman also and I’ll ensure this doesn’t happen again,” Yediyurappa told reporters.

The incident has come as a shot in the arm to the Opposition Congress, which is already attacking the Yediyurappa administration on the COVID-19 crisis. Condemning Madhuswamy’s behaviour, Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah demanded an apology and asked Yediyurappa to sack him from the Cabinet. 

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D K Shivakumar said it was unbecoming of Madhuswamy to behave like that being a senior minister. “People will ask us questions and express their problems, naturally. What’s important is how we handle ourselves. Be it a woman or anyone, they come to us because we’re into public service. Calling them ‘rascal’ and things is not right. Maybe there was some irritation, but I agree with (Siddaramaiah) that he should be dropped from the Cabinet,” he said.

On his part, Madhuswamy said he felt intimidated. “If I have hurt the feelings of any woman, I will certainly apologise,” he said. “But citizens should realise, we go to their villages to ask about their problems. If they start abusing us publicly, how can we work? My secretary and I heard her for five minutes and then told her that we know our responsibility. We asked her to close the issue. She didn’t stop and I got tempted (sic),” the minister said.

Mangaluru, Jan 7: The city police arrested a youth on charge of spreading messages against political leaders through WhatsApp and allegedly issuing life threats warnings against them.

The accused has been identified as Anwar, a resident of Peruvai village in Bantwal taluk of Dakshina Kannada. He was working in Qatar.

On Monday, Yathish from Vittal filed a complaint and based on that police arrested Anwar.