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 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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coastaldigest.com news network
June 9,2020

Mangaluru, May 9: An Indian expatriate worker from Karnataka’s coastal district of Dakshina Kannada died of in Dubai after he suffered a cardiac arrest.

The deceased has been identified as Yashwant, 37, hailing from Malali Kajila House in Tenkulipady village, on the outskirts of Mangaluru.

He was working as an air-conditioner mechanic in Dubai for the last two years.

As per sources, he suffered a heart attack. However, the exact cause of this death is yet to be known.

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News Network
January 12,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 12: Protesters plan to intensify their anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act movement from sit-down satyagrahas and rallies to street and door-to-door campaigns in different parts of the city.

The street campaigns began on January 1 with 20-30 volunteers of Hum Bharat Ke Log, reaching out to people in Koramangala and Whitefield and explaining the CAA, National Population Register (NPR), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and related issues. They have organised four campaigns.

According to Zia Nomani, member of Hum Bharat Ke Log, the campaign will intensify soon. “Over 200-400 volunteers will organise nukkad sabhas and other activities around JP Nagar and Banashankari,” Nomani said.

She added that though protests began as a medium for people to vent their concerns, more needs to be done.

“We have realised that many people have begun working on their personal documents and want to help them understand what CAA is all about,” Nomani said.

Volunteers will talk to people at street junctions, discuss issues and run signature campaigns. They say: “Our movement is focussed on reaching out to people. Pro-CAA workers too started a door-to-door campaign last week.”

Avani Chokshi, an advocate who participated in a campaign, said though people had a cursory idea about these issues, they didn’t know the details. “It through such campaigns that we can reach more people. It’s important to talk to people who haven’t made up their mind about the issues or are even pro-CAA,” said Avani, adding, “It hard to combat hatred in a short span of time. The movement needs to be sustained.”

Activist Geeta Menon, who has been at the forefront of the street campaign, says they were heckled at some places.

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