Udupi: Foundation stone laid for Salihath First Grade College at Tonse

Mangaluru, Mar 1: Karnataka Minister for Major and Medium Industries Jagadish Shettar said that the flight service between Mangaluru and Hubballi will begin on March 29 under UDAN scheme.

Speaking to reporters on the sideline of the meeting of Industries Commerce of Magaluru, here on Saturday evening, he said while the city of Ports is the second busiest international airport after Bengaluru in Karnataka, other places, namely Hubballi, Belagavi, Kalaburagi and Bidar, have come on the air map with the UDAN scheme.

Stating that UDAN launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was what the Golden Quadrilateral highway project of former Prime Minister A B Vajpayee had envisaged, Mr. Shettar noted that more flights are operating to and from Mangaluru now. This has paved the way for Industrialisation of the important city on the Bombay-Karnataka region, he added.

Bengaluru, Feb 18: A 26-year-old Kannada singer committed suicide over alleged dowry harassment on Monday. Sushmitha, a playback singer who got married to Sharath Kumar about one-and-a-half years ago, hung herself from the ceiling at her parent's home in Nagarabhavi, Bengaluru on Monday.

The singer sent a Whatsapp to her brother and mother before hanging herself early morning on Monday. She accused her husband and his relatives of dowry harassment in her death note.

According to Bengaluru Police, the singer has accused her husband, his sister and his aunt of harassing her for dowry in her death note. On Monday morning, Sushmitha's brother alerted the police after he found her dead body hanging from the ceiling. She used her dupatta to hang herself.

Sushmitha had lent her voice for Kannada songs in films like Haalu Thuppa and Srisamanya.

Police informed that Sushmitha sent a Whatsapp message to her brother, Sachin, at around 1 am on Sunday and explained that her husband Sharath and her relatives have been harassing her since the time she got married. Sachin read the message at around 5:30am and rushed to her room where he found her hanging from the ceiling.

In the text message, Sushmitha wrote that her husband, Sharath, his sister, Geetha, and his aunt, Vydehi, harassed her and they were the reason behind her ending her life. She also stated that she did not want to end her life in their house and hence came to her parents’ house.

The Annapoorneshwari Nagar police have registered a case of dowry death, charging her husband and his sister and aunt based on complaint filed by Sushmitha’s mother Meenakshi. The three accused are on run after hearing about her death and police said that efforts are on to trace them.

Sushmitha's husband Sharath Kumar is a manager in a car showroom and a resident of KS Nagar in Bengaluru.

Mangaluru, Jun 19: A repatriation flight from Doha brought 178 passengers to Mangaluru today. This is the first flight operated from Qatar to Mangaluru under the Vande Bharat Mission. 

The Air India Express flight, which took off from Hamad International Airport in Doha at 12 noon (Qatar time) landed at Mangaluru International Airport around 6.30 pm IST.

Indian embassy had prepared the list of passengers to be flown in the flight. Stranded people who were in need of emergency repatriation such as pregnant women, senior citizens and those in need of emergency medical treatment were given priority while finalising the list of passengers. 

Kannadiga organisations in Qatar such as Karnataka Sangha, Tulu Kuta Qatar, Karnataka Muslim Welfare Association, Mangalore Cricket Club, Bunts Qatar, Mangalore Cultural Association, South Canara Muslim Welfare Association, Qatar Billawas had been striving for the repatriation of stranded Kannadigas by exerting pressure on the elected representatives to operate flights. 

Kannadigas in Qatar have thanked former Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP Jayaprakash Hegde for persuading the authorities concerned to facilitate the repatriation.