Sabarimala Row: Hurling of bombs, setting ablaze party offices continue in Kerala

Mangaluru, May 11: Hundreds of migrant labourers today gathered at a service bus stand in Mangaluru to return to Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.

They were working in different parts of Dakshina Kannada and remained stranded without a job after the announcement of lockdown.

Labourers said that they have not registered with Seva Sindhu portal to avail pass for travelling outside the state.

Though all the people who gathered wore a mask, the physical distancing norm was not followed.

Already three Shramik trains from Mangaluru had left for Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar with nearly 3,500 stranded labourers in the last two days.

The gathered labourers are anticipating that they would be allowed to travel to their destinations in the Shramik trains that will leave in the evening from Mangaluru.

The doctors and paramedical staff who have arrived the spot are checking the health of the labourers before allowing them to travel to the railway station.

The cost of a ticket to Uttar Pradesh is Rs 1,040 per person (which includes bus fare from service bus stand to railway station, food and water bottle).

Bengaluru, Jun 28: Karnataka Minister for Medical Education Dr K Sudhakar faced criticism by netizens after he shared a TikTok video sent by his daughter and wife, who are currently undergoing treatment in a COVID-19 facility.

TikTok is a Chinese video-sharing social networking service owned by ByteDance, a Beijing-based internet technology company founded in 2012 by Zhang Yiming.

Dr Sudhakar’s father, his wife and daughter who tested positive for Covid-19 has been admitted to a designated facility and in order to make his birthday memorable, his daughter sent him greetings through TikTok video.

When the minister shared the TikTok video, people pointed out that the minister should know better and that he should urge his family to boycott the Chinese video-sharing platform and lead by example.

Many were miffed that a BJP leader put up a TikTok video at a time when tensions are running high between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

Bengaluru, May 7: Fear and anxiety gripped migrant workers who lined up at police stations in the city on Wednesday to register for train services without knowing that the state government had cancelled the train facility.

Senior officials in South Western Railway said they were ready to run special trains for migrant workers. On Tuesday evening, the state government decided to withdraw the requests made for 13 such trains to north India after realtors said they need the labourers here.

Migrants continued to stream into the railway station at Majestic, Bangalore International Exhibition Centre and even the bus station hoping for some travel arrangement. Many who were aware of the government web portal, stood in front of the BBMP ward office or police stations for enrolment.

In Varthur, over 100 migrants stood in front of the police station and sought to know what happened to the forms they had submitted four days ago. "We first went to the BBMP office and were shooed away by an official who directed us to go to the police station. We want to go home and demanded that the police help us. There was no response first. Then they came out and beat us," said Pintu Kumar from Mohanpur of Bhagalpur district in Bihar.

Though a video clip accidentally shot by Kumar showed two police personnel charging the cane at them, a police officer from the Varthur station, however, disputed the claim. "The video doesn’t show the cane landing on any person. We were beating the seat and tyre of two-wheelers to send the migrants away," he said.

At Mahadevapura, the workers came in groups and submitted the forms at the police station.

At the railway station in Majestic, a group of labourers from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand had walked from several areas in south Bengaluru only to be told that there is no train. Mahendra, a labourer from Jharkhand, said they received 5 kg rice and nothing else in the last 45 days. "Now, I don’t want food. I don’t want the job or money. I can't get stuck here. I want to go home,” he said.

'Restore dignity'

Activists and leaders wrote an open letter to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa questioning the decision to cancel trains without consulting labourers and protesting the violation of their fundamental rights.

The letter had support of 522 organisations and individuals, including Dalit rights organisations and trade unions. It urged the government to restore the dignity of the migrant workers. "We demand recognition of the autonomy and dignity of the migrant workers to decide their travel plans. No one should be forced either to stay back or to return to their home states," it said.