U T Khader registers fourth straight victory in Mangaluru, knocks down BJP, JD(S), MEP

Dammam: President of Indian Social Forum, Eastern Province Mr.Wasim Rabbani urged immediate intervention of Indian government to help Non Residential Indians who are in trouble due to corona pandemic in Saudi Arabia.

He said in a press rease that expatriate Indians are in concern  as number of corona infected people and  deaths are increasing in danger level.

Hea said, "the Saudi health minister's statement a few days ago indicates that the situation in Saudi needs to be taken more seriously with precautionary methods. There are concerns among expatriates because the number of people infected with the coronavirus and the number of deaths reported in various provinces are increasing at an alarming rate."

"Saudi Government and Health Ministry are taking excellent precautionary measures, however, in the coming days expect to see the number of cases to increase in Saudi Arabia. The Indian government needs to take diplomatic and immediate intervention to ensure the treatment of Indian expatriates considering the number of effected people increasing", He said.

He also urged that the Embassy and the Government of India should ensure qaurantiane faculty for Indian expatriates and arrange special low cost flights to bring back expatriates who would like to return home country.

" Government of India and Indian embassy need to intervene immediately to ensure that the quarantine system is in place for Indian expatriates as the facilities in the rooms where the residents are staying together are very limited. There should also be a mechanism to organize low-cost flight services for expatriates who are ready to go home. The government system should also be able to accommodate the expatriates in special quarantine areas in hometown as soon they arrive in India", he urged.

Bengaluru, Mar 24: Eight new positive coronavirus cases were confirmed in Karnataka on Tuesday, taking the tally to 41 in the state, the health department said.

"Till date 41 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state which includes one death and 3 discharged," the department said.

According the department bulletin, 37 positive patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and their condition is stable.

Of the 41 confirmed cases, six are transit passengers hailing from Kerala who have landed in airports and being treated in Karnataka.

Among the eight passengers confirmed on Tuesday also three men and a woman are from Kasaragod in Kerala with a history of travel to Dubai and Saudi Arabia respectively.

All the four had landed in Mangaluru, where they are being treated.

The others are: two men, aged 40 and 65, from Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka with travel history to Dubai;

a 56-year-old woman, a resident of Chikkaballapura district, who is a family member and co-passenger of person who tested postive with travel history to Mecca, and a 56-year-old woman, resident of Bengaluru, a contact of another person who has tested positive for the virus,

Among the 41 cases, 24 has been reported from Bengaluru, five from Dakshina Kannada, three each from Kalaburgai and Chikkaballapura, two each from Mysuru and Uttara Kannada, and one each from Kodagu and Dharwad.

All the three discharged patients are from Bengaluru, while one death was reported in Kalaburagi earlier this month, which was the country's first COVID-19 related death.

Mangaluru, June 21: The first ever repatriation flight from Saudi Arabia’s Dammam Karnataka’s Mangaluru under Vande Bharat Mission (VBM) today brought home around 165 stranded passengers. 

The IndiGo flight took off from Dammam International Airport at 11 a.m. (Saudi time) and landed at Mangaluru International Airport at 6:30 p.m.

The stranded passengers included pregnant women, senior citizens and those who are in need of emergency medical treatment are on board.

The passengers were screened at the Airport before being despatched for institutional quarantine in special buses. 

Even though a few charter flights arranged by a couple of NRI entrepreneurs have already repatriated hundreds of stranded people from Dammam to Mangaluru, the government of India had not operated any repatriation flight under VBM on this sector so far. 

Saudi Kannadigas Humanity Forum (SKHF), an NGO which came into existence to help the stranded Kannadigas in Saudi Arabia during covid-19 lockdown had been successful in persuading the government of India operate a flight on Dammam-Mangaluru sector under VBM. 

SKHF has also set up an online portal for those who were in need of emergency repatriation. In today’s flight around 100 passengers have obtained seats through SKHF.

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