Fresh attempts to book Dr Zakir Naik under UAPA, ban IRF

Bengaluru, Apr 23: Nine new COVID-19 positive cases have been reported in Karnataka in the last 24 hours.

Out of these nine coronavirus positive cases, five have been reported from Kalaburagi and two each from Mysuru and Bengaluru.

According to the government of Karnataka, the total number of positive cases in the State now stands at 427 including 131 cured or discharged cases and 17 deaths.

The total number of positive coronavirus cases across the country are 19,984, including 15,474 active cases of the virus. So far, 3,869 patients have either been cured or discharged while 640 deaths have been recorded in the country, as per data provided by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Bengaluru, Jun 8: Facing a shortage of labour, some top builders in the city have initiated efforts to bring back the migrant workers, who have returned to their native places following the COVID-19 lockdown, and are holding parleys with Railway authorities for operation of special trains to ferry them.

After the lockdown was announced, many construction projects came to a halt and accordingly the labourers were rendered jobless. These migrant workers preferred to go back to their home state as they were not paid when the projects were stopped and were caught in the big financial mess. Many of these migrants even chose to cover thousands of kilometres by foot when even trains, buses or any motor vehicles were not operating.

Keeping their woes in view, the Centre decided to run the Shramik Special trains to ferry them to their native places. But, after they were gone, the builders found themselves in a lurch. An executive of a builder told PTI "Yes, our builder and a few others are in talks with the Railways to run the special train to bring back the labourers." She said nothing has been materialised as of now.

According to her, the builders took the contact numbers of the workers when they left the city to their home states and are now contacting them one by one. The South Western Railway has so far sent 3.11 lakh migrant workers in 216 Shramik Special trains starting from May 3 to June 6.

Bengaluru, May 24: In an effort to protect passengers and staff from the risk of COVID-19 transmission, the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) has introduced a parking-to-boarding contactless journey at the airport.

With a greater emphasis on minimum touch and minimum exposure between passengers and airport personnel, BIAL aims to minimise all physical contact at the airport. The technology will continue to enable a seamless airport journey, with greater emphasis on health and safety.

"As the gateway to a new India, BLR Airport has a key role to play in helping passengers through this global health crisis by reassuring them that their safety is our top priority. We have introduced innovative contactless procedures to minimise exposure at the airport," said Hari Marar, MD and CEO, BIAL.

"These enhancements demonstrate our continued commitment to keep our passengers safe in this environment. We believe our new measures will boost confidence among passengers," continued Marar.

"BLR Airport is all geared up to welcome our passengers back and - working with various government departments - we're committed to offering them a safe experience by implementing the best-in-class standards, procedures and practices," Marar added.

Earlier, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that domestic flight operations will resume from May 25 noting that all airlines and airports were ready but it is not viable to keep the middle seat vacant as it will lead to hike in the ticket price and prescribed social distancing norms would still not be met.