Even after 2 years, Modi govt has failed to put in place a simple GST system: CAG

Kozhikode, Apr 28: The remains of seven people who died in the Gulf countries were airlifted from Dubai by a cargo flight which arrived here Tuesday, ending the uncertainty over bringing back the bodies of those who died following non-Covid-19 reasons.

Airport sources said the flight reached the airport by around noon.

The bodies include natives of Kerala, one each of people from Goa and Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu.

"Karipur in among the few airports where cargo flights are operating in South India.

This is the reason why the bodies of those belonging to Goa and Sivaganga and other parts of Kerala have all been brought here for onward transport to respective destinations by road," an airport official said.

"As per information received from the airport, the bodies are of John Johannan of Kollam, David Shamy of Punnakkal, Kannur, Sathyan of Cheranelloor, Thrissur, O C Mathai and Sijo Joy, both of Pathanamthitta, Sreenivasan of Sivaganga and Henrick D Soza of South Goa," said Thomas, Assistant Sub Inspector, Special Branch CID, Malappuram.

Special passes have been issued to ambulances to transport the bodies to their destinations after the formalities at the airport are over, a senior police officer said.

There had been some confusion on bringing back the bodies from the Gulf region for about a week for want of clearance from the embassy authorities.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week seeking his intervention in ensuring that bodies of Keralites, who die in Gulf countries due to no non COVID-19 reasons, should be broughtto the state without any delay forenabling family members to perform their last rites.

Vijayan also wanted Modi to direct Indian Embassies to issue necessary clearances without seeking individual approvals from the Ministry of Home Affairs and avoid any delay.

The mortal remains are now being broughtin cargo planes as passenger flights are not being operated due to the COVID-19 lockdown.

May 19: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's office on Tuesday said the Uttar Pradesh government has demanded that the 1,000 buses the party wants to ply for ferrying migrant labourers back to the state be handed over in Lucknow this morning and alleged that the move is politically motivated.

It also alleged that the demand shows that the UP government lacks the intention to help those stranded at the state's borders.

The Uttar Pradesh government on Monday had accepted the Congress' offer to run 1,000 buses to bring migrant labourers back to the state, a proposal which had triggered a war of words between the two sides.

In a letter to Additional Chief Secretary Avneesh Kumar Awasthi, Priyanka Gandhi's private secretary Sandeep Singh said a letter was received from the UP official at 11.40 am via email, in which it has been stated that 1,000 buses with all documents be handed over at Lucknow by 10 am on Tuesday.

"In a situation when thousands of workers are walking on the streets and thousands of people have gathered at the UP borders at various registration centres, sending 1,000 empty buses to Lucknow is not only a waste of time and resources but is also inhuman and the product of an anti-poor mindset," Singh said in the letter in Hindi.

"This demand of your government seems politically motivated. It does not seem that your government wants to help our labourer brothers and sisters who are facing a disaster," the letter said.

The state government had asked Priyanka Gandhi, who had made the offer, to provide it with a list of buses along with the names of their drivers and conductors.

Subsequently, her private secretary Singh had given details of the buses and its drivers to the UP government in an email.

"All details of the 1,000 buses are attached with this e-mail. Out of them, a few drivers will be reverified and those details will also be mailed to you in a few hours. I hope you will give permission for those buses to ply as soon as possible," Singh had said in the communication to the UP government on Monday.

The Congress leader had recently written to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, seeking permission to run 1,000 buses at her party's expense.

The party had then accused the BJP-run UP government of ignoring the offer.

"The offer made to the chief minister through the letter on May 16 in connection with migrant labourers has been accepted," Additional Chief Secretary Awasthi (Home and Information) had said in a letter to Priyanka Gandhi's private secretary.

A little later on Twitter, Priyanka Gandhi, who is the Congress general secretary in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, had thanked Adityanath.

"Thank you for allowing us to run 1,000 buses at the expense of the Congress to help thousands of brothers and sisters walking on the roads in Uttar Pradesh," she had tweeted in Hindi.

She had said the Congress will stand with these people during the difficult time they face.

In a television interview earlier on Monday, Adityanath accused the Congress of playing politics over the plight of migrant workers.

Singh in his letter on Tuesday also expressed surprise at the chief minister, saying his government was demanding the details of buses since the last three days and asserted that the details were provided immediately after the letter from the UP government was received in this regard.

Tokyo, Mar 4: Takeda Pharmaceutical Co said on Wednesday it was developing a drug to treat COVID-19, the flu-like illness that has struck more than 90,000 people worldwide and killed over 3,000.

The Japanese drugmaker is working on a plasma-derived therapy to treat high-risk individuals infected with the new coronavirus and will share its plans with members of the U.S. Congress on Wednesday, it said in a statement.

Takeda is also studying whether its currently marketed and pipeline products may be effective treatments for infected patients.

"We will do all that we can to address the novel coronavirus threat...(and) are hopeful that we can expand the treatment options," Rajeev Venkayya, president of Takeda's vaccine business, said in the statement.

Takeda said it was in talks with various health and regulatory agencies and healthcare partners in the United States, Asia and Europe to move forward its research into the drug.

Its research requires access to the blood of people who have recovered from the respiratory disease or who have been vaccinated, once a vaccine is developed, Takeda said.