GoAir accused of denying ticket for speaking Kannada

News Network
September 29, 2017

Bengaluru, Sept 29: The Kannada Development Authority has issued a notice to GoAir, accusing it of denying a ticket to a passenger, who has charged the airline with harassing him for speaking in Kannada at the Kempegowda International Airport.

Balaji Narayana Murthy was among 14 passengers who arrived at the check-in counter of GoAir for their 5.45 am flight to Mumbai on Wednesday. “We were five minutes late to the airport as overnight rain had resulted in slow-moving traffic. In fact, it took us more than 30 minutes from the Trumpet Flyover to the KIA. We explained the delay to a staff and sought help to board the next flight,” Murthy said.

As the staff was not forthcoming even after half an hour, the 14 passengers decided to speak to the manager, who assured them alternative tickets. “When we were at the manager’s counter, I was speaking in Kannada to another passenger. A staffer with GoAir shouted that I can’t speak in Kannada at the airport,” Murthy said.

Murthy said the staffer named Sandeep later issued tickets to 13 passengers but left him out.

“When I asked for my ticket, Sandeep told me I won’t get the ticket as I was speaking in my language. Despite repeated pleas, he refused to help. It was a refundable ticket. Finally, I asked him for a refund which he declined stating that I came beyond the stipulated time. I asked him for a written explanation but it was not given. I felt humiliated but couldn’t do anything,” he added.

‘Swift action must’

Murthy spent Rs 9,000 to buy another ticket for Mumbai. “I sent a mail to GoAir customer care at 7 pm explaining my plight in detail. Till now, I have not received even a reply,” he said.

KDA chief S G Siddaramaiah has written to GoAir seeking action against the staff and an explanation before October 10. 

“I urge you to remove your staff and provide an explanation for the incident. On October 10, I will visit Kempegowda International Airport to review implementation of Kannada. I request you to submit a report explaining the action taken against the staffer concerned,” the letter says.

Noting that no person or organisation has the authority to ask a passenger to stop speaking in their local language, the letter states that it is objectionable to know that a staffer of a responsible organisation has behaved in such a way.

“It is the primary responsibility of all organisations working in Karnataka to respect the language and culture of the land. We need to see whether organisations like GoAir that forget the responsibility can be allowed to function in Karnataka. We need to communicate that Karnataka does not need organisations that do not respect its language,” S G Siddaramaiah has said.

Comments

prakash
 - 
Sunday, 1 Oct 2017

Sandeep looks like a third class person  he should be sacked from the duty immediately before he hurt anybody else, a proper leagal action should be taken against him for the insult he did.

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News Network
May 29,2020

Bengaluru, May 29: Karnataka Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J C Madhuswamy on Thursday said the Centre has objected to the state's decision to increase working days at factories, and the matter would be discussed in the next cabinet meeting.

"....the Centre has raise objection to extending working days and has said it should be brought down. We will amend it....I will share the details after the next cabinet meet, the matter did not come up today (Thursday), we have received the letter," Madhuswamy told reporters in response to a question after the cabinet meeting.

He noted that a couple of states that had increased the working hours have withdrawn it. The Karnataka government had, on May 22, issued a notification allowing factories to extend working hours upto 10 hours a day and 60 hours a week till August 21. The extension of work hours is from the existing eight hours a day and 48 hours a week.

Pointing out that while announcing COVID-19 relief package, the Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa had announced Rs 5,000 per acre for maize farmers, Madhuswamy said while issuing the circular which mentioned that relief would be applicable to rabi crop, as it would not benefit many farmers.

Now, it has now been decided to give Rs 5,000 per acre to all maize farmers, irrespective of rabi or kharif. There were also several rules and regulations for barbers, autorickshaw and taxi drivers among others to claim their one-time compensation of Rs 5,000, the Minister said.

"We have decided to relax most of them (rules) other than those essential and give compensation, as regulations wouldn't have benefited many," he said. With five nominated seats of legislative council falling vacant on June 23, the cabinet has authorised the Chief Minister to nominate for 5 seats.

The cabinet also gave post-facto approval for Karnataka Repealing of Certain Enactments and Regional Law Bill 2020 that has been passed by the legislature.

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News Network
April 23,2020

Mangaluru, Apr 23: The scarcity of water in Kukkavu area of Belthangady town in Dakshina Kannada district has forced school-going children to dig a well with their hands.
The children studying in primary schools were seen lifting the heavy buckets of water from the well.

The residents were facing the water shortage from the past couple of days, amid the coronavirus lockdown.
A group of five adolescents managed to dug the well as deep as 12 feet within just a span of four days.

" We are facing water problem now. With the support of my five more friends, we dug this well. At the beginning we just found soil, then in the deeper layers, we also found stones. We got access to the water at 10 feet down," said Dhanush, a class 9th student, while speaking to news agency.

The shortage of water during the summer months is a perennial problem in across several states in India, and the growing population has only added to the woes.

In extreme conditions, poor have to draw water from small water holes.

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coastaldigest.com news network
July 27,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 27: Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, on completion of one year of his government, today said coronavirus hampered his development plans for the state.

He said the state will not see a lockdown again "at any cost".

"Due to coronavirus we couldn't meet people's expectations but now we'll not have lockdown in Karnataka at any cost. In future we're going to fulfill whatever I announced in Budget. If necessary we'll take loans and complete all development work," said Yediyurappa.

"Covid has hampered development plans of Karnataka, lot more needs to be done, i'm committed to providing an able, stable government," he said.

Arrangements were made for virtual celebrations to mark the one-year anniversary of Yediyurappa government at Banquet Hall in Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru. Social distancing was maintained at the event.

A record 5,199 new COVID-19 cases and 82 deaths were reported from Karnataka on Sunday, the state's health department said.

With this, the total number of coronavirus cases in the state stands at 96,141, including 58,417 active cases and 35,838 recoveries.

So far, 1,878 deaths have been reported from Karnataka. Karnataka is the only state to have over 50,000 active cases with overall tally below 1 lakh.

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