Tankers on Mangaluru-Bengaluru road declines as LPG pipeline commissioned

Mangaluru, June 11: The Saudi Arabia based Expertise Contracting Company, which is repatriating its employees to India and other countries, today allocated around 90 seats of one of its chartered flights to Kannadigas stranded in Saudi Arabia. 

The Gulf Air flight took off with around 175 passengers on board from Dammam International Airport around noon local time. It is expected to land at Mangaluru International Airport at around 7 p.m. Indian time. 

In fact the company had chartered the flights only to repatriate its employees. However, due to the lack of special flights under Vande Bharati Mission, the company decided to help the other stranded Kannadigas in Saudi Arabia, who had approached Saudi Kannadigas Humanity Forum for help. 

A company official said that around 2,000 employees from various countries in the Indian subcontinent are being repatriated, of which 1,665 are Indians.  Already hundreds of them have reached India, and hundreds are still waiting for repatriation. 

“We are grateful to Expertise for allowing to travel in the flight which the company had chartered to repatriate its own employees,” said one of the passengers before boarding the flight at the airport.  

Director of Expertise, KS Shaikh said the 20-year-old Expertise group, one of the largest conglomerates in the GCC operating in petrochemical and heavy equipment sectors, has more than 10,000 employees and their family members in the Gulf, mainly in Jubail, one of the largest industrial cities.

Of these, the company has chosen over 2,000 employees for the covid-related repatriations considering various emergencies. He said 12 chartered flights have been engaged to carry out the repatriation exercise to the Indian subcontinent.

Bengaluru, Jul 9: Bringing to the fore the dangers frontline workers face in combating the deadly coronavirus, 395 policemen have tested positive for the infection since the outbreak of the pandemic in Bengaluru. This includes five deaths, Inspector General of Police and Additional Commissioner of Police (Administration) Hemant Nimbalkar told media persons.

He said as of Thursday, 190 have been cured while 200 are under treatment. Twenty police stations have been sealed, he added.

He claimed the Bengaluru police has suffered the most compared to any department, organisation or institution because the force is deployed in the field and dealing with the situation.

The infection among police is highest despite training being given to them on how to protect themselves from the coronavirus.

According to him, every morning duty charter is given to the police personnel where they are told how to avoid getting the infection and handle the situation if they find symptoms of coronavirus.

"Despite taking all the precautions, infection in our department is high because we are the ones who are on the road.

We are meeting hundreds of people whom we don't know, whether they are Covid infected or not," Nimbalkar said.

Along with the policemen, their families too are at risk of contracting the virus.

An assistant sub-inspector at VV Puram police station was the first casualty in the Bengaluru police on June 13.

A heart patient, who was on leave due to ill health, he collapsed at home and died.

Bengaluru, May 18: A large number of people in India are planning inter-city bus travel within a month of the lifting of travel restrictions, according to a randomised online survey of over 10,300 customers of redBus, India's largest online bus ticketing platform.

Nearly 57 per cent of the respondents are planning to travel within a month post the lockdown. However, there is a high standard of expectation on the implementation of measures to make buses safe for travel with over 79 per cent wanting deep cleaning and sanitisation of buses after every trip.

Hand sanitisers, mandatory masks and temperature screening for all passengers are next in expectations for bus travel. Over 78 per cent of the respondents want the implementation of hygienic conditions at boarding points and 70 per cent want social distancing protocols to be implemented at boarding points.

"The survey does underscore the fact that given the adherence to safety protocols, bus travel is possibly one of the safest options for travel since the number of travellers are fewer, checks can be done individually and the whole factor of pick up and drop as close to home as possible minimises the number of contacts throughout the journey," said redBus Chief Executive Officer Prakash Sangam.

In addition, online booking further reduces the number of contact points as people can book bus tickets directly from their home. Further, there is a heightened awareness of personal hygiene and safety measures which is important for the travel to be safe.

"The large number of people waiting to travel not only points to the need but also the importance it has for the revival of economic activity as very few of them would be travelling for leisure," said Sangam.

The survey also showed that passengers put a very high consideration on hygiene, sanitation and disinfection -- over 73 per cent -- and social distancing (63 per cent) and much lower consideration to traditional factors such as travel cost (22 per cent), comfort (21 per cent) and punctuality (18 per cent).

The survey was conducted among redBus customers across India. Only 5 per cent of the respondents were willing to postpone their travel to over six months while the rest had plans to travel within that period.