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Bengaluru, May 17: Left to itself, Karnataka will look to spring back towards normalcy under Lockdown 4.0 as the state government is on standby to resume public transport services from May 18, if the Centre allows it. 

Though KSRTC and BMTC have been preparing for resumption of services, officials in the two corporations told DH that they cannot make a move till the government makes a decision.

Transport Commissioner N Shivakumar said the department will take a decision based on the state government's orders. "The government will take a call on buses as well as taxi and other transport services," he said.

Senior officials in the state government said Deputy Chief Minister and Transport Minister Laxman Savadi has written to Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari seeking a nod for resumption of the services. 

Transport Secretary Gaurav Gupta has written a separate letter to his counterpart in the Union government requesting permission to operate public transport. "The state government wants the services to open. The official has listed out the steps the corporations will take to ensure social distancing other steps that will be taken to check spread of Coronavirus," a source said.

The B S Yediyurappa administration has been bullish on easing lockdown restrictions. 

If the Centre empowers the states to define Lockdown 4.0, Karnataka is likely to do away with the red-orange-green zoning of districts and allow public services to resume, except in COVID-19 containment zones. The government is also likely to redefine its containment strategy by micromanaging localities where COVID-19 cases are reported, without letting life in an entire district get affected. 

The government has already shown willingness to allow hotels and gyms to open after May 17 subject to social distancing norms and restrictions. In fact, the government has proposed to allow the resumption of all economic activities in standalone establishments. The government, however, is not keen on opening malls, theatres, diners and establishments that have centralized air conditioning. 

“Everything depends on the Centre,” Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwath Narayan said. “Our only stand is that the red zone should be treated at par with the other zone when it comes to relaxation.” 

Dubai, May 3: Over 150,000 Indians in the UAE, who wish to return home amid the coronavirus lockdown, have applied through the online registration process to the Indian missions here, according to media reports.

The Indian missions in the country last week opened online registration for the expatriates who wish to fly back home after getting stuck in the country amidst the lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As of 6 pm on Saturday, we received more than 150,000 registrations, Consul General of India in Dubai Vipul told the Gulf News on Saturday.

A quarter of them want to return to their homeland after losing their jobs, he said.

According to a report in the Khaleej Times on Sunday, about 40 per cent of the applicants who have registered are blue-collared workers and 20 per cent are working professionals.

"Roughly 20 per cent have suffered job losses and about 55 per cent of the total applicants are from Kerala," Neeraj Aggarwal, Consul, Press, Information, Culture was quoted as saying in the report.

Aggarwal said that the figures would change as they are expecting registrations from workers from other states, including Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar.

About 10 per cent of the applicants are visit and tourist visa holders who got stranded here due to the ongoing lockdown in India.

India extended the ongoing lockdown by two weeks from May 4 to contain the spread of the coronavirus that has affected nearly 40,000 people in the country.

Aggarwal said that a small number of the applications constitute those from pregnant women and other medical cases.

Since the online registration process was launched, the Consulate's website crashed several times due to the heavy rush of applicants wishing to register to fly back home.

The site has been working fine now though it took a lot of time for it to stabilise in the initial phase due to the heavy traffic, the counsel general said.

He said that the missions here have not yet received any information from the Indian government about the mode of transport of the stranded citizens, the prices of the tickets or how the COVID-19 test results of applicants would be assessed for their journey.

There are high-level discussions going on regarding these things, he said in the report.

Meanwhile, Norka (The Non Resident Keralites Affairs) said it has received a total of 398,000 applications from Keralites across the globe who wish to return home.

"Of which, the highest numbers are from the UAE. At least 175,423 applicants have signed up from the UAE," Norka said in an official statement on Saturday.

It also received 54,305 registrations from Saudi Arabia, 2,437 from the UK, 2,255 from the US, and 1,958 from Ukraine from those who wish to return to India, the Khaleej Times reported.

The coronavirus has infected 13,599 people and claimed 119 lives in the UAE, the Ministry of Health and Prevention said on Saturday.

Bengaluru, Jul 16: Life is a journey that cannot be imagined without traveling but the prevailing COVID-19 situation has made the whole world come to a standstill.

This pandemic has not only limited the modes of transportation for people all across India but also forces them to look for safer, convenient, and comfortable travel options. Private charter services are thus seen as the best alternative.
This is the reason the demand for availing charter services has risen dramatically over the last couple of months and encouraged airlines to either start or expand their charter services business further.

Many airlines have revamped their business strategies keeping charter services in mind and entered into this optimist business segment recently.

Star Air, the aviation arm of Indian business conglomerate - Sanjay Ghodawat Group, has entered into the charter services business to fulfill private air travel requirements.

The group previously has an experience of over six years of running helicopter charter service operations successfully under Ghodawat Enterprises Pvt Ltd.

The airline, Star Air, with its world-class fleet of three Embraer ERJ-145 aircraft (50-seater), two helicopters - Airbus H130 (6-seater) and Airbus H135 (5-seater), has the capacity to fly one anywhere at any point in time as per one's convenience that too with great comfort, luxury and complete privacy.

Star Air is a known name in the Indian aviation industry that is recognized for its unmatched safety, comfort, and on-time performance records.

It was praised in the past for connecting the unconnected by commencing commercial flight services to many Tier-II and Tier-III cities in India that were not graced with airline services before.

And now, after gaining the trust of over 1,00,000 customers from all across India and serving countless prominent VIP's, it has launched its charter service business.

It holds a valid license for charter service business and operates as per the protocols defined by the DGCA. The company has a team of experienced pilots, technicians, and staff that assures one gets a best-in-class charter service with complete safety and without any hassles.

"We are delighted to expand our airline operations by opening this private charter services. Like our scheduled commercial airline services, we are offering a world-class charter service keeping your comfort, safety, and overall flying experience in mind, said Sanjay Ghodawat, Chairman - Star Air.

This company had started its operations in January 2019 to connect the unconnected by providing world-class flight services at an affordable cost.

Since then it is continuing on its endeavour and gaining immense trust nationwide. It provides services to many Indian cities like Bengaluru, Belagavi, Indore, Kalaburagi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Ajmer (Kishangarh).