Mangaluru: AB Ibrahim himself should solve temple invite row, says RSS

Mangaluru/Mysuru, May 19: Though the Karnataka government permitted the private buses, operators in Dakshina Kannada district have decided not to operate buses until May end. In Mysuru district too the private buses remained off the roads.

Dakshina Kannada Bus Owners’ Association President Dilraj Alva said “Technically, private bus operators are not able to operate services as all of us have surrendered our permits. If we start services we will have to pay the tax for entire month. Hence, we have decided to resume bus services from June 1.”

The private buses had suspended their services since March 24.

In addition, bus owners also have two more demands which the state government needs to consider on priority, he said.

“We have requested the government to exempt private buses from paying tax for the next six months. We were not plying buses during lockdown and it will be tough for us in the next three months to operate as per new conditions.”

“The government has allowed only 30 persons in each bus to maintain social distancing. In addition, we have been urging the state government for bus fare revision since 2013. The government has revised the bus fares of KSRTC twice after that,” Alva said adding that bus owners will be meeting Mangaluru RTO on Tuesday.

Mangaluru, May 10: A special train carrying 1,140 migrant workers stranded here in the lockdown has left Mangaluru railway station for Jharkhand.

Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel and Vedavyas Kamath, MLA, were present at the railway station on Saturday night when the train left.

Kamath said the workers who had registered on the state governments Seva Sindhu portal were brought to the railway station in Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation buses.

A health check-up was carried out before they boarded the train.

The district administration also provided food packets and water to the migrants at the station.

Three more trains will leave from Mangaluru for Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Jharkhand soon, he said.

Meanwhile, in a statement, Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner Sindhu P Rupesh said train services are being arranged for migrant workers who have registered their names on the Seva Sindhu portal.

The workers will be informed when trains are arranged to their destinations and they need not throng the railway station unnecessarily, she said.

Around 20,000 workers have so far registered themselves online, including 5,000 from Jharkhand, 3,000 from Uttar Pradesh and 4,000 from Bihar.

Hundreds of migrant workers had on Friday staged a protest at the central railway station here, demanding that they be sent back home.

The workers went back to their camps only after district authorities and police gave them assurance that trains will be arranged in three days.

Mysuru, Jan 19: Karnataka Rural Development and Panchyat Raj Minister K S Eshwarappa on Sunday claimed that Popular Front of India and Social Democratic Party of India have been indulging in anti-national activities.

Talking to media persons here, he said the government is mulling to ban and take action against PFI and its political arm SDPI.

It was recommended even during the previous government, but it was not taken seriously, he added.

He said that the BJP will ensure that all the MLAs who were instrumental in the party coming to power (the then-disqualified MLAs who joined BJP from Congress and JDS recently and won the bypoll subsequently) will not be let down and be given suitable posts in the government.