A B Ibrahim transferred; K G Jagadeesha is new DC of Dakshina Kannada

Bengaluru, May 4: Booze lovers ushered in the resumption of liquor sales in a spirited fashion in Karnataka onMonday thronging stores hours before shutters went up at severalplaces and made no secret of their celebratory mood.

At some places, they flocked liquor shops even before day-break and performed "special prayers" with flowers, coconuts,incense sticks, camphor and crackers in front of the stores.

Liquor outlets had been shut in the State from March 25 following the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Excise revenue loss during the period was about Rs 2,500 crore, according to government sources.

About 4,500 standalone liquor outlets (CL-2 and CL- 11licence holders), which comprise wine stores and those owned bystate-run Mysore Sales International Limited, outside containmentzones were allowed to be opened from Monday from 9 am to 7 pm withsome restrictions.

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These include customers compulsorily wearing of facemasks andmaintaining social distancing with not more than five people inside liquor shops.

Many customers were indeed well-prepared.

At many places, they came with umbrella, raincoat, newspapers and books and queued up as early as 3 am.

At a liquor shop in Salegame Road in Hassan, the tipplers lit the traditional lamp and incense sticks, performed 'aarati'with camphor and decorated the store with the garland of flowers.

With folded hands, they all performed 'special prayers'.

In Mandya, the tipplers queued up before Martaanda liquor shop before dawn.

An hour before the sales were to resume, a few people burst crackers in celebration.

Some tipplers in Belagavi were more "enterprising."

They wentto a liquor store on Sunday night itself, performed special prayersand placed their "representatives" in the form of slippers, bags and stones in the "social distancing boxes" they themselves had drawn sothat they don't have to stand in queue in the morning.

An elderly woman Dakamma was the centre of attraction in Shivamogga.

The bent body did not bend the determination of this spirited lady, claimed to be 96-year-old, who was heard saying "liquor is goodfor health."

At the taluk headquarters town of Brahmavara in the coastal Udupi district, the queue of the booze lovers was reported to be almost half-a-kilometre.

Long queues were seen at liquor stores at Mariyappana Palya and K R Puram, among others, in Bengaluru.

The store managers too were no less cautious while dealing with customers in the COVID era.

They let the customers enter after spraying sanitisers in their hands, and allowed only those who hadworn masks and maintained social distancing.

To maintain law and order, authorities had deployed policemen in good numbers at these stores and they were seen on duty ensuring  that customers maintained social distancing.

Bengaluru, Jan 23: Expressing shock over the blast which left him and his supporters injured yesterday, Shantinagar MLA NA Haris today said that the incident cannot be brushed aside as a firecracker blast and appealed to the state government to inquire into the incident.

Recovering from the injuries sustained on his leg, Haris was discharged from St Philomena's Hospital on Thursday afternoon. 

Interacting with mediapersons outside his residence in Shantinagar, Haris said, “It wasn’t a cracker but a ball-like object that was hurled at me. Since my childhood, I have been seeing crackers and the object that was thrown at me was certainly not a cracker. It had splinters and hard objects.”

He said, “I have been representing the constituency for over 12-years and had no rivalry with anyone. Barring political ideology during elections, all the leaders in our constituency have been cooperative with each other. Yet, we do not know what the intention was or who was behind the incident.”

Revealing that home minister Basavaraj Bommai had called him to enquire about his condition at the hospital Haris said, “I have also briefed the home minister and explained to him what exactly happened. I have full faith in the police and will cooperate with the police during the investigation.” Haris said that doctors have advised him three to four-days of rest.

Mangaluru, June 10: The first direct repatriation flight from Damma to Mangaluru International Airport under Vande Bharat Mission will be operated on June 21.

Thousands of people from coastal districts of Karnataka are stranded without flights in different parts of Saudi Arabia after the announcement of covid lockdown in March this year. 

Even though the government of India launched Vande Bharat Mission to repatriate Indian expatriate through special flights, no flight was scheduled from Saudi Arabia to Mangaluru.

Several organisations had exerted pressure on the government of India and government of Karnataka to bring back stranded Kannadigas from Saudi Arabia.  

With the sole intention of helping the stranded Kannadigas, a few philanthropists in Saudi Arabia last month formed an NGO called Saudi Kannadigas Humanity Forum under the leadership of Zakariya Bajpe and Sheikh Expertise.