Mangaluru: 8 college students arrested while selling ganja

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.

Bengaluru, Feb 28: Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao on Friday said that Section 144 will be imposed near Vidhana Soudha for Budget session starting from March 2.

"Section 144 of the CrPC (prohibits assembly of more than 4 people in an area) will be imposed in the area around Vidhana Soudha from March 2 to March 31 ahead of the Budget session,"Bhaskar Rao said.

The police said that they have intelligence inputs of protests near Vidhana Soudha.

Mangaluru, May 27: The Dakshina Kannada PU College Principals' Association on Wednesday appealed to the authorities to postpone the evaluation of PUC II answer scripts, as the Novel Coronavirus was still active and there was all possibility of the infection spreading.

Speaking to reporters here, Association President Umesh Karkera said, ''It is our duty to evaluate the answer scripts. But amid the fear of COVID-19 and lockdown, evaluators are not able to reach the valuation Centre to take up the work.

''The department of pre-university education has asked the Deputy Chief Examiners and the Assistant Examiners to reach the venue on May 27 and 29, respectively, to take up the evaluation work.