Shiradi Ghat stretch to be closed from January 2 for repair

Mangaluru/ Bengaluru, May 10: Nearly 11,000 non-resident Kannadigas who are seeking repatriation from various countries across the world should be ready to shell out a huge amount for a two-week private quarantine in Karnataka before reaching their home.

The Kannadigas stranded in Gulf countries including UAE and Saudi Arabia have already expressed shock over the high airfare for repatriation during coronavirus lockdown. Another shocker is heavy quarantine fee once they reach their home state.

Officials in Mangaluru and Bengaluru have confirmed that administration has fixed charges for quarantine facilities starting from Rs 1,200 up to Rs 4,500, including food per day. 14 day quarantine will be mandatory for all healthy and asymptomatic international passengers. Hence, they should be ready to pay Rs 16,800  to Rs 63,000.

The other option is government quarantine centres: hostels run by social welfare, backward classes welfare and minority welfare departments but they are far from satisfactory. This is in stark contrast to the plush government quarantine facilities in Kerala.

In Mangaluru

The first repatriation flight to Mangaluru International Airport is expected to land on Tuesday, May 12 from Dubai.

The quarantine facilities include lodges, hostels and service apartments. Rates are fixed based on four categories: basic, economy, medium and premium. The basic facilities are mainly hostels of educational institutions, and the rest are budget and star hotels, said Rahul Shinde, probationary IAS officer, who is In-charge of the quarantine facilities for those being repatriated.

In Bengaluru

As many as 350 international passengers are set to arrive in Bengaluru at 3 am on Monday, May 11. So far, nobody has opted for government quarantine facilities, according to Lakshman Reddy, Joint Director, Social Welfare Department.

In Bengaluru, there are 55 hostels of the social welfare department, 51 of the backward classes welfare department and 12 of the minority welfare department. “We provide them with three square meals a day,” he added.

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.

As part of the Indian Overseas Congress Mera Bharat Mahaan NRI Series, a Facebook live Global Conference was facilitated by Dr Arathi Krishna, Dy. KPCC NRI Chairman and Mr. Mohammad Mansoor President IOC Bahrain on 30th May, 2020.

In the one and half hour live interaction, questions and answers were addressed by DK Shivakumar, President of PCC Karnataka and attended by hundreds of participants, accumulating an impressive 300K people viewing the live broadcast across the globe.

The event was inaugurated with a welcome address by the inspiring and innovative IOC chairman Sam Pitroda followed by the motivational speech of AICC Secretary Shri Himanshu Vyas, IOC US President Mr. Mohinder Singh Gilzian and former KPCC NRI Dy Chairman Dr. Arathi Krishna by whom Shivakumar was introduced.

The event was remarkably successful with maximum interaction of global congress family members and straight forward answers by Shivakumar. 

He emphasized on the present political issues in India and the Indian government's negligence in handling the crisis related to Covid-19 and the indefinite lockdown. He added at present, that the Congress is playing a frontline, constructive role by addressing and articulating the Covid-19 issues and offering critique-based solutions to the government as a responsible opposition party.

The insightful meeting covered the congress strategy and the rebuilding of the KPCC, as well as discussed counter corrupt and hatred politics of current regime along with the role of constructive opposition, etc.

IOC Bahrain President Mr. Mohammad Mansoor thanked IOC Chairman Sam Pitroda, AICC Secretary  Himanshu Vyas for their role in strengthening the party and motivating the team; former KPCC NRI Dy Chairman Dr. Arathi Krishna for introducing the guest; IOC global IT Cell Chairman Manoj Shinde, along with Dananjay and Vinay for professionally managing the event;  IOC US President Mohinder and  Karnataka Chapter President Gauri Shankar for emphasizing the guest of honour; Ms Sofiya Sharma and Ms Vijya Nadela for beautifully moderating the event and all the distinguished guests and Presidents of IOC and KPCC wing Leaders from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE, Germany and other countries who were present on the online meeting and especially  Mr. Althaf,  PA to DKS and Mr. A.N.Nataraj Gowda in charge of KPCC IT Cell for helping facilitatethe online meeting.