NRIs who missed Eid prayers stage protest after Dubai-Mangaluru flight diverted to Kochi

coastaldigest.com news network
June 16, 2018

Mangaluru, Jun 16: Dozens of Mangalurean passengers on board Air India Express (AIE) 814 Dubai-Mangaluru flight resorted to protest at Cochin International Airport (CIA) where they were taken yesterday morning due to bad weather in the coastal city.

The flight that was supposed to land at the Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) at 4.45am. Most of the passengers were Muslims who had planned to offer Eid-ul-Fitr prayers in Mangaluru and celebrated the festival with their family members on Friday. Congregational Eid prayers will be offered in mosques and Eidgahs of Mangaluru between 7:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m.

However, to the disappointment of the passengers, the flight landed at CIA at around 5.55 am. Even as the AIE staff was making arrangements to take the flight back to Mangaluru, a section of passengers became furious and questioned the authorities of the diversion and delay. They also held protest and shouted slogan against the authorities inside the airport. Though the AIE authorities offered breakfast and other facilities inside the airport, passengers continued their protest near the runway.

The passengers alleged the ground unit, powering the air-conditioning system of aircraft, was switched off making it very difficult for them to sit inside the flight. However, the AIE authorities denied this allegation.

“They told us the flight will be takeoff from Kochi within one hour after another captain arrives. In the meantime, the air conditioning inside the flight was switched off. After the protest, we were made to wait at the runway area in buses,” a passenger was quoted as saying by a news channel.

According to AIE Chief of Airport Services Aby George, the flight was diverted since it was raining heavily in Mangaluru and the visibility was very poor. “We could not land the flight in MIA and the commander diverted it to CIA. We are operating in regulated conditions of DGCA. Once the flight landed in CIA, the weather did not improve and by then the duty hours of the crew on board was over. We cannot make that commander to operate the flight again as per rules. So we had to bring another set of crew from Thiruvananthapuram,” he said.

“We told the passengers that we are planning 9.30am departure. Though we tried to convince the passengers about the bad weather, they protested,” he complained.

Comments

Kumar
 - 
Saturday, 16 Jun 2018

Flights are always like that. They should give compensation

Yogesh
 - 
Saturday, 16 Jun 2018

Unwanted issue. THey used to offer namz evreywhere. If they want they can do that in that situation also. Simply messing up authorities

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News Network
March 29,2020

New Delhi, Mar 29: "What corona? My children are hungry, they have walked from Gurugram with me do you think corona is what I fear?," Yogesh Gangwar who is salesman in a cloth showroom said as he wiped his tears.

Many others regret for not leaving the city early on.

"God knows when we will reach our hometown. My family was telling me to leave work early in March and get back, but I avoided suggestions and now I am stranded here," Babu Ram who hails from Rampur and works at a plastic recycling factory here in Mundka told media.

Migrant labourers were forced to walk as the public transport were closed and borders were sealed due to the lockdown.

"There is no food to eat, I cannot pay rent of room without my daily wages so I decided to walk with my family from Narela to here. I just hope I get a bus soon," Revati, who works as construction labour said as she fed her three-year-old with pieces of bread that one of the policemen at Anand Vihar gave her.

However, when Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh decided to deploy around 1,000 buses to help these workers reach their respective hometowns, thousands of them reached Anand Vihar ISBT with a hope to catch one of these buses.

The Delhi government also announced that 100 buses have been deployed to help those trying to reach to their homes in other states on foot.

In order to avoid the spread of the virus, the police asked the people to stand in three queues and also asked the people to de-board the overcrowded buses.

Earlier, budget passenger carrier SpiceJet had offered its aircraft to operate few flights from Delhi and Mumbai to Patna to take migrant labourers, particularly from Bihar, who have got stuck in various parts of the country due to COVID-19 related lockdown.

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News Network
May 20,2020

Bengaluru, May 20: Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) had to confront an unprecedented situation as there was a commotion at bus stands in various parts of the state due to the mad rush of passengers.

Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi, who is in charge of the transport department, admitted that there were some shortcomings in the arrangements. He, however, was confident that things would improve from Wednesday.

As against the dearth of passengers in the bus stands in Bengaluru a day ago, Wednesday witnessed an overwhelming crowd blaming BMTC authorities for not providing enough buses for all the destinations on time.

Some of the employees who were asked to report to duty before certain time were facing difficulty in reaching the office in the absence of bus despite having daily pass and arriving at the stand well in advance.

Authorities were finding it difficult to convince the public as a bus could ferry only 35 passengers at a time which was way less than the demand.

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News Network
March 12,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 12: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Dr CN Ashwathnarayan on Wednesday said rumours that the state government has asked offices to remain closed tomorrow are false.

He clarified that the government has asked employers to explore the option of work from home amid the coronavirus scare.

"The rumours that the Govt has asked offices to remain closed tomorrow are false. We have asked employers to explore options of work from home for their employees. Let us be vigilant about this issue and not fall prey to any such rumours," Ashwathnarayan tweeted.

Meanwhile, Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi has cancelled all seminars, workshops or conferences in the premises in the wake of coronavirus spread.

"All the functions including seminars, workshops, conferences are to be cancelled. This is for urgent and necessary compliance," officials from the hospital said.

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