Security tightened ahead of Datta Jayanti, Eid-Milad; prohibitory orders clamped

Bengaluru, Feb 22: Thanks to joint efforts by the Protector of Emigrants in Bengaluru and Indian Embassy in Qatar, a 26-year-old woman from Karnataka who had been kept in confinement in Qatar has been rescued and brought back to India.

Anupama (name changed) from Holenarasipura in Hassan district arrived in Bengaluru on Thursday night. She was allegedly locked up in a house for 14 days, restrained from using a mobile and wasn't fed. There were three other women with her. On the midnight of February 12, they broke the window panes and fled before contacting local police.

Anupama, a diploma graduate in computer science, was jobless and her friend working in Kuwait suggested she try for a job abroad. She contacted an agency based in Chikkamagaluru which offered her a nanny's job in Qatar. After document verification, the agency demanded she pay Rs 2 lakh but she said she didn't have that kind of money.

The agency sent Anupama on a visitor visa but told her if questioned by immigration officials, she must claim she was visiting her sister. They also gave her a return ticket.

As Anupama was travelling abroad for the first time, she said she was ignorant about several things.

On January 12, Anupama left Bengaluru. But as she reached Qatar, all her documents, including passport, were confiscated by the agency. Her return ticket was cancelled and she was sent to a house to work as babysitter-cum-cook for Rs 30,000. She lived with four other maids in the same house, where they were made to work for 16-18 hours a day.

"I used to wake up around 5.30am every day and had to prepare breakfast for the employers by 6.30am. My work would end around 11pm every day. We never even got time to eat," Anupama told media on Friday. Four days into work, Anupama's nose started bleeding. However, the employers cared little and insisted she continue to work. After 18 days, she requested her employers that she be relieved.

The agency sent her to a house where three women were already present and locked her up with them. "They used to give us a glass of raw rice, an onion, tomato and potato to cook for ourselves. While we got rice every day, we had to use the vegetables for three days. We were not supposed to use mobiles or go out. Two people were monitoring us," she recalled.

Anupama and the others decided to approach police but for that they needed to escape. Around 1.30am on February 12, the four women managed to break window panes and jumped out. They ran for more than a kilometre and managed to approach police, who summoned the agency and got the women to speak to their families.

Anupama called her brother-in-law, who approached the Protector of Emigrants office in Koramangala, Bengaluru. Shubham Singh, PoE in Bengaluru, said they took up the issue with the Indian Embassy in Qatar, which immediately got in touch with Qatar police. Anupama said, "We were kept in prison for a couple of days and were sent to the deportation centre later."

Meanwhile, the Indian embassy got the agency to return the women's documents. However, the agents did not pay their salaries. Two of the women were sent to Hyderabad and the third to Kerala. On Friday, Anupama met Singh at his office, where her statement was recorded. "We have started the process of initiating action against the agency in India," he said.

New Delhi, Mar 26: While the humans are on lockdown and spending time with their families, animals are free and without any fear roaming around on the otherwise busy roads. From Malabar civets to large Indian bisons, animals are enjoying this time.

Indian Forest Officer Susanta Nanda recently shared a video with the caption, "Indian bison( the gaur) goes for a street walk. The largest extant Bovine, is native to South and Southeast Asia. It can be very aggressive. Rare to see in markets."

The 8-second video shows the large animal freely walking in the market area of Chikmagalur district, Karnataka, while the few onlookers on the road get aside and watch the Bison with utmost amazement.

The videos of animals having a gala time on the roads have become common. After the video was posted online, it became a hit. The clip garnered over 3.1k views and over 100 retweets.

Twitter is amazed at the video. Have a look at the comments.

One user wrote, "Oh! We should vacate this place for them. Guess humans have stayed for too long."

Another Twitter user wrote, "That’s one thing people would follow social distancing with!"

Bengaluru, Jun 18: Two employees at a plant of Toyota Kirloskar Motor in Karnataka's Bidadi have tested positive for COVID-19, the automobile company said in a statement on Wednesday.

According to the auto major, the two employees had attended work on June 7 and 16 respectively.

"As a first step and through appropriate contact tracing, TKM has started identifying all those employees who may have had primary or secondary contact with the infected employees for necessary treatment and quarantine wherever necessary and is in contact with the local government authorities," the statement said.

Toyota Kirloskar Motors had restarted operations after weeks of nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus on May 26. It said that all necessary precautions were to maintain social distancing and all Central and state government directives were being followed.

"However, despite all such measures, two employees at TKM's Bidadi plant tested positive for COVID-19 on June 16th, 2020. Operations at TKM plant has already been temporarily suspended so that required disinfection can be carried out at the plant," the statement said.

"TKM has extended all necessary support to the infected employees for medical treatment as well as quarantine procedures. The company is in touch with the families of the infected employees so as to support them to handle this situation carefully without further complications," it added.