Sushma promises to evacuate 10,000 Indians stranded in Saudi

Bengaluru, Apr 18: Amid fears that people from the unorganised sector are running out of cash to meet their daily expenses, the Karnataka government said there was no data available for such labourers, who can be provided financial assistance under the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme.

"The government does not have data of people in the unorganised sector such as drivers, farmers, domestic help and others. If we have to deposit directly into their account, we need data..," State Labour minister A Shivaram Hebbar told reporters.

The minister said a situation borne out of the COVID-19, where the entire nation has been lockdown was never anticipated.

To him, the pandemic has given an opportunity to gather information about the unorganised sector.

"This COVID-19 has taught the department and the workers a lesson that we should be prepared for a situation like this. We have learnt that all the information about labourers should be available with the labour department," Hebbar conceded.

The minister opined that the department should have had the list during the good times but nobody bothered to have it.

"During the good times nobody bothered about it -- neither they (beneficiaries) asked for it, nor we thought of it.," Hebbar said.

Now that the pandemic has struck, the government is focusing only on not letting anyone starve to death.

A three-level preparation has been made -- at the village level, Taluk level and the city level, the minister said.

Village anganwadis have been stuffed with food items to be cooked for the needy, whereas in Taluk level, government hostels have been turned into shelters for the labourers, he said, noting that lakhs of philanthropists in cities have come forward to feed the people from unorganised sector.

"The basic objective of our government is that no one should starve to death. The issue of organised or unorganised sector comes next," he explained.

On the fear of large-scale retrenchment, the minister said notices have been served on all the industries that no one should be expelled from the job.

However, Hebbar underlined that the industrialists today are as much in distress as the workers and his department was taking into account everyone's concern.

A decision will be taken in this connection by the government in the next two days, to provide assistance to small enterprises to keep them afloat.

Bengaluru, Jun 4: All shops, offices, malls, commercial establishments and others in Karnataka must not allow Covid-stamped people to enter their premises before the completion of the prescribed quarantine time, said a top official on Wednesday.

"They should not allow those with quarantine stamp to enter before the end of their quarantine period or till they get current Covid negative test report," ordered Chief Secretary T.M. Vijay Bhaskar.

Bhaskar has also issued the order to all religious places, hotels and others to first check for quarantine stamp on all their customers or visitors before they enter the premises.

"All shops, commercial establishments, offices, factories, malls, religious places, hotels and etc.. are required to check for quarantine stamp on all their customers or visitors before they enter the premises," he said.

In the event of a violation, Bhaskar said the police should be informed at 100.

He issued the same order to the general public and resident welfare associations asking them to be vigilant.

"General public and resident welfare associations are advised to report any violation of the quarantine in their neighbourhood to the police at telephone number 100," said the chief secretary.

The orders came under the head aRole of general public, resident welfare associations and commercial establishments''.

General public, commercial establishments and resident welfare associations have been empowered to report quarantine violations at a time when many activities are set to reopen from June 8 as part of Unlock - 1, after more than two months of lockdown.

Mangaluru/Mysuru, Mar 2:Unseasonal rain that lashed several parts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Mysuru districts on Monday brought big relief from scorching heat experienced since last one week.

According to official sources here, the Port city received rain for more than two hours since 0500 hrs. Mangaluru, Thokkottu, Ullal, Kavoor, Bondel, Bejai and other areas surrounding Mangaluru experienced rainfall.

Power supply was disrupted following rainfall. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted 'generally cloudy sky' for Mangaluru on Monday.