Petitioner pained at reversal of Mangalore crash payout verdict

August 27, 2011

Kasaragod, August 27: Abdul Salam, one of the family members of the Mangalore air crash victims, on whose petition the single judge bench of the Kerala High Court had directed the awarding of Rs. 75 lakh compensation, has described as “a matter of great concern” the division bench's move of striking down the earlier order.

Abdul Salam, whose son Mohammed Rafi died in the crash, one of the worst air disasters the country witnessed in recent years, said he felt deeply hurt when the Air India decided to file a writ against the verdict of the single judge.

“The approach of the Air India with regard to the kin of the victims is improper. AI counsel Nanavati had sought the details and documents of my slain son. However, all the documents had been lost in the air disaster. However, we had provided them some documents after securing them from his employers in the Gulf. But every time we visited the AI lawyers, we had to listen to some negative talk,” he said.

Meanwhile, pall of gloom descended across the district after High Court set aside a single judge's order directing Air India to pay a minimum compensation of Rs.75 lakh each to the dependant families of 158 air passengers who lost their lives in the Mangalore air crash on May 22, 2010.

“The High Court verdict was very painful and shocking, and we are determined to approach the Supreme Court,” N.A. Sulaiman, coordinator of the Mangalore Air Crash Victims Family Association, said.

He said the association was forced to take legal recourse only after the authorities began to discriminate between the victims' families on the issue of disbursing deserving compensation as per the Montreal Convention, to which India was a signatory.

As many as 100 victims hailed from economically weaker sections, and the Centre should urgently intervene to settle the issue amicably on humanitarian grounds, Mr. Sulaiman said.

As many as 58 victims hailed from Kasaragod and Kannur districts of Kerala, Mr. Sulaiman said.

Plea to Ravi

Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi owed an explanation to the people of the State on why Air India took initiative in dragging the settlement of compensation to the victims' close family.


mangalore-air-crash-victims_1

Petitioner Abdul Salam (extreme right), his son Abdul Nasir with a
photo of Mohammad Rafi, who was killed in Mangalore air crash

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coastaldigest.com news network
August 2,2020

Bengaluru, Aug 2: All the seven Airports in Karnataka have seen poor traffic even after the restoration of domestic flight services post covid-19 lockdown. Interestingly, Mangaluru International Airport, the second biggest in the state, has slipped to third position in number of number of passengers and flights. 

Of all the seven airports in State-- Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Hubballi, Belagavi, Mysuru, Kalaburagi and Vijaynagara (Hosapete)-- it was the Sambra (Belagavi) airport which saw the highest number of passengers and flights after Bengaluru. 

According to Airports Authority of India report released on their website recently, the Sambra airport outperformed the Managluru international airport in June. 

As many 10,224 passengers travelled to or from Belagavi airport in June, whereas Mangaluru airport saw a footfall of only 8,608 passengers including 3,726 international and 4,882 domestic passengers. Belagavi airport handled 391 flights whereas Mangaluru airport handled 190 flights.

Even the Bengaluru international airport saw a decline in the number of passengers and flights in June. Only 3.69 lakh domestic and 10,654 international passengers arrived or departed from Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru in June as against 27.59 lakh total passengers in June 2019. 

Between April-June 2020 the Bengaluru airport saw only 4.54 lakh total passengers (domestic and international) as against 84.11 lakh total passenger during the same period last year. The number of flights to and from Bengaluru also saw a huge dip in June with only 731 international (2,582 in June 2019) and 4290 domestic (16,216 in June 2019) flights.

Though the Mysuru domestic airport handled a higher number of flights compared to last June, the number of passengers either arriving or departing saw a decline. Last year June 4,775 passengers travelled in 96 flights, whereas in June 2020 the airport handled 3,158 passengers and 330 flights.

Hubballi airport saw the least number of passengers or flights among the seven airports in Karnataka in June. It saw only 55 passengers either arriving or departing from the city's airport in 14 flights in the month of June. In the same month last year, Hubballi airport, which was third busiest before the pandemic, had facilitated 45,973 passengers and handled 604 flights.

Since April 2020 to June, the Hubballi airport has handled only 18 flights (as against 1,958 during the same period last year) and 122 passengers (1,50,416 between April-June 2019).

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News Network
July 4,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 4: With the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in Bengaluru, the state government has decided to impose a total lockdown in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) limits.

The lockdown will start from 8 pm today till 5 am on Monday. The sale of essential items will only be allowed during the total lockdown.

"Complete lockdown to be imposed from 8 pm today till 5 am on Monday in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) limits, as per instructions by Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa in view of COVID-19," BBMP Commissioner Anil Kumar said on Saturday.

"Sale of essential items will be allowed during the lockdown, including meat shops. Police action will be taken against people found roaming outside unnecessarily," he said.

With the number of cases increasing by 994 in the last 24 hours, the total of cases in the city now stands at 7,713. Of these, 6,297 are active cases.

So far, Karnataka has 19,710 cases with 293 deaths. While 8,805 people have recovered from the deadly virus.

At the national level, the total number of cases have now surged to 6, 48,315 out of which 3, 94,227 patients have recorded, while 18,655 have lost their lives.

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News Network
March 15,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 15: The week-long ban imposed by the Karnataka Government from Saturday is yet to get a total response in the State to fight against the spread of killer disease Coronavirus (COVID-19).

The ban has witnessed a considerable reduction in the travelling public by Bus and train. Bus terminal and Railway stations wore desert look or only a very few public travelling. KSRTC, which was maintaining service for every 10 minutes once between the State Capital and to City of Palaces, was forced to cancel most of the service due to very little patronage. 

"We were left with no option but to cancel the fleet since there are no passengers," sources at the KSRTC Bus terminal told media persons.

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