‘Islamic State’ is not just anti-national, it’s anti-Islam too: PFI

Udupi, May 17: A total of 1,460 migrant labourers left for Uttar Pradesh from Indrali Railway Station in Udupi in Shramik Special train on Sunday.

This is the first train to ferry migrant labourers from Udupi. As many as 236 from Karkala, 323 from Kundapura, 901 labourers from Brahmavar, Kaup and Udupi left for their native villages.

More than 2,000 labourers had gathered at the railway station and only 1,460 labourers received tickets to travel.

Those who did not receive tickets were disappointed and got into heated arguments with the officials.

The labourers were promised that they will receive tickets to another train, that would depart from Udupi before May 20. One bogie of the train was reserved for pregnant women, women and children.

As many as 1,712 from Jharkhand, 770 from Odisha, 977 from West Bengal, 1,600 from Bihar, 379 from Madhya Pradesh, 280 from Chattisgarh, 110 from Uttarkhand, 379 from Rajasthan had registered on Seva Sindhu portal.

Additional Deputy Commissioner B Sadashiva Prabhu said that there are plans to make arrangements to send migrant labourers from UP, Uttaranchal, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand.

Belagavi, Jun 25: Union Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi on Wednesday said that coronavirus was created to "scare us" and to create tensions on the border, in an apparent reference to China.

He said that everyone should learn to live with the virus and follow all norms needed to combat the disease.

"We all know who created the coronavirus. It was created to scare us and to create tensions on the border, we know who did it. We have to learn to live with the coronavirus. We do not need to be scared of it. We must maintain social distancing and follow all the sanitation norms," Angadi told reporters here.

Karnataka on Wednesday reported 397 new COVID-19 positive cases, taking the total count in the state to 10,118.

According to the state health department, the state's death toll has reached 164 after 14 fatalities were reported. As many as 6,151 people have been discharged so far.

Bengaluru, Jun 26: The National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) on Thursday came up with a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for restaurants whereby among other physical distancing norms, it has suggested a 2-metre gap between tables.

Formulated in partnership with Releski, a Bengaluru based skill-tech company, the SoP suggests that in case of back-to-back seating, people sitting with their backs towards each other will have their seats divided by 'Plexiglass' divider raised up to 2 meters from the ground.

"In a typical restaurant, the improvised seating plan should have a minimum distance of 2 metres between tables. The distance of 2 metres (6 feet) between tables should measure from one edge of the table to the other table's edge," it said.

In case of loose or free seating such as in banquet style or food court style seating, a minimum 2 meters of distance should be maintained between tables.

The guidelines noted that, to encourage physical distancing, restaurants have to sacrifice their seating capacity, to promote health and safety, and also to gain trust from their patrons.

"In order to perform this, divide your restaurants under different sectors. Pull out your restaurant's floor plan and colour code different sections red and yellow. Red sections are potential areas where maximum footfall or traffic is observed. Yellow sections are areas where the footfalls are average," it said.

All the red sections are encircled or bordered by placing barricades or Q manager and will open at specific points to access the yellow section and all the opening points will have hand sanitisers and sprays, and every guest who walks from red zones to yellow zones will sanitise himself/herself to reduce the chances of contamination.

For air conditioning, the guidelines of CPWD shall be followed which inter alia emphasises that the temperature setting of all air conditioning devices should be in the range of 24-30 degree Celsius, relative humidity should be in the range of 40- 65 per cent, intake of fresh air should be as much as possible and cross ventilation should be adequate, the guidelines suggested.

The industry body has also suggested appointment of a COVID-free Ambassador who would operate as the Chief Health Officer within the restaurant team, preferably from the management team in each shift.

The ambassador's would put the new daily work routines into practice, to monitor compliance with good practice and to lead the preventative measures, adapt to health & safety recommendations and requirements of the restaurant and oversee the implementation of the norms.

Anurag Katriar, President of NRAI and CEO & Executive Director of deGustibus Hospitality, said: "Every restaurant cutting across formats is facing the harsh reality of subdued to shut business volumes in the present and the uncertainty of business environment in the future. One thing is certain that hygiene and safety will be a key differentiator in the post-pandemic restaurant operations."