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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).

Bengaluru, Aug 4: Deputy Chief Minister Dr.CN Ashwathnarayan instructed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner Manjunatha Prasad to set up a separate high-level committee to ascertain the exact cause of coronavirus-related deaths in the state.

He spoke to reporters after a meeting with Prasad on Tuesday.

"The committee, headed by senior officials will audit the reason for the increase in death cases. Has there been a death due to treatment delay? Or are there any shortcomings in the treatment process?" the deputy chief minister said.

He pointed out that based on the report, the committee should try to correct the deficiency and reduce the death rate.

"How many beds are in which hospital? How many patients are on a ventilator? How many have gone home from the hospital? Etc. All information needs to be updated online at the moment. He suggested that this information should be made available to the public online," Ashwaththanarayana said.

Stating that some hospitals are not giving details about the number of beds correctly, he instructed the commissioners to take legal action if differences in their data are found.

He said that there is a shortage of ASHA workers in the city and it needs to be hired immediately.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, there are 74,477 active COVID-19 cases in Karnataka and the death toll in the state is at 2,594.