Driver from Dakshina Kannada returns home after Gulf ordeal

Mangaluru/Mysuru, May 19: Though the Karnataka government permitted the private buses, operators in Dakshina Kannada district have decided not to operate buses until May end. In Mysuru district too the private buses remained off the roads.

Dakshina Kannada Bus Owners’ Association President Dilraj Alva said “Technically, private bus operators are not able to operate services as all of us have surrendered our permits. If we start services we will have to pay the tax for entire month. Hence, we have decided to resume bus services from June 1.”

The private buses had suspended their services since March 24.

In addition, bus owners also have two more demands which the state government needs to consider on priority, he said.

“We have requested the government to exempt private buses from paying tax for the next six months. We were not plying buses during lockdown and it will be tough for us in the next three months to operate as per new conditions.”

“The government has allowed only 30 persons in each bus to maintain social distancing. In addition, we have been urging the state government for bus fare revision since 2013. The government has revised the bus fares of KSRTC twice after that,” Alva said adding that bus owners will be meeting Mangaluru RTO on Tuesday.

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 7: Kerala government led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday has come under the spotlight for depicting the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on the cover of the state finance budget 2020-21 document.

Issuing clarification on the same, Issac justified that it is a political statement.

"Definitely, it is a political statement, the cover of my budget speech. It is a painting by a Malayalam artist of Mahatma Gandhi's murder scene. We are sending out a message that we will not forget who murdered Gandhi."

He also alleged that history is being re-written and National Register of Citizens (NRC) is being used to divide the country on communal lines.

"This is important at the times when history is being re-written. There is an attempt to erase some popular memories and use NRC to divide the population on communal lines. Kerala will stand united."

NRC is an official record of those people who are legal citizens of India. The dossier includes demographic information about all those individuals who qualify as citizens of India as per the Citizenship Act, 1955.

The register was first prepared after the 1951 Census of India and since then it has not been updated until recently.

Newsroom, Jun 16: A 35-year-old Kannada lecturer died in a motorbike accident at Tumkuru in Karnataka.

The deceased is K N Swamy, who was a guest lecturer in Department of Kannada at Central University of Kerala located at Periya in Kasaragod district.

The accident occurred on Sunday afternoon when he was riding his motorbike.

Swamy was also a writer and poet in Kannada.