Sunny Leone’s Bengaluru show passes off peacefully as Kannada outfit backs off

Udupi, May 17: A total of 1,460 migrant labourers left for Uttar Pradesh from Indrali Railway Station in Udupi in Shramik Special train on Sunday.

This is the first train to ferry migrant labourers from Udupi. As many as 236 from Karkala, 323 from Kundapura, 901 labourers from Brahmavar, Kaup and Udupi left for their native villages.

More than 2,000 labourers had gathered at the railway station and only 1,460 labourers received tickets to travel.

Those who did not receive tickets were disappointed and got into heated arguments with the officials.

The labourers were promised that they will receive tickets to another train, that would depart from Udupi before May 20. One bogie of the train was reserved for pregnant women, women and children.

As many as 1,712 from Jharkhand, 770 from Odisha, 977 from West Bengal, 1,600 from Bihar, 379 from Madhya Pradesh, 280 from Chattisgarh, 110 from Uttarkhand, 379 from Rajasthan had registered on Seva Sindhu portal.

Additional Deputy Commissioner B Sadashiva Prabhu said that there are plans to make arrangements to send migrant labourers from UP, Uttaranchal, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand.

Bengaluru, Mar 27: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) on Friday formed a task force to monitor the spread of COVID-19 disease in the state and provide guidelines and suggestions to contain its proliferation in the state.

In a press release, the KPCC has stated that the 15 member committee will be headed by the senior Congress leader and former Health minister K R Rameshkumar also included two other former health ministers, Shivanand Patil and U T Khader as the members of the committee.

Bengaluru, Apr 28: Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday suggested that the government can allow sale of liquor in green zones. 

“Merely because there is an economic slowdown in the state, I don’t recommend that alcohol should be allowed to be sold. But, wherever there are green districts, they can open (liquor sale) with certain restrictions, I think,” Siddaramaiah, the leader of the Opposition, told reporters. 

There are 14 districts in the state that are categorised as green because they do not have any active COVID-19 cases. The green districts are: Yadgir, Raichur, Koppal, Haveri, Davangere, Shivamogga, Chitradurga, Udupi, Chikmagalur, Hassan, Kodagu, Chamarajanagar, Ramanagara and Kolar.

There is tremendous pressure on the B S Yediyurappa administration to revive the economy as the lockdown has dried up all revenue sources. Excise, alone, accounts for 18 per cent of Karnataka’s own tax revenue. 

The Excise department recently suggested allowing regulated sale of liquor through the state-run MSIL outlets. The government, however, did not approve it fearing crowding and backlash from the Centre.