Uprooted tree blocks NH 73 between Mangaluru and Chikamagaluru

Mangaluru, Jun 3: Mangaluru MLA and former minister U T Khader has urged the state government and Dakshina Kannada district administration to take steps to facilitate the return of Indians stranded in foreign countries amid covid lockdown.

A delegation comprising Mr Khader, DCC President K Harish Kumar, and MLC Ivan D’Souza met District In-charge Minister Kota Srinivas Poojary and submitted a memorandum on Tuesday.

“Kannadigas who are working outside the state are in distress due to the lockdown. More than 50,000 people had uploaded applications on Seva Sindhu portal seeking permission to return to their villagers and are waiting for permission. With the authorities failing to take any decision, they are worried,” said the delegation.

The government should initiate measures to get them back and quarantine them, urged the delegation.

Mr Khader said, “Many workers stranded in foreign countries are eager to return home. The district administration should make arrangements to quarantine those returning from foreign countries and other states.

There are thousands of migrant labourers from Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar stranded in DK. They are waiting to return to their families. The state government should facilitate their return journey, the delegation urged.

MLC Ivan D’Souza said, “Assistance should be provided to private bus staff, beedi workers, tailors, garage labourers and street vendors who are in distress. The price of Covid-19 tests in private laboratories should be reduced.”

The delegation informed that after Wenlock Hospital was converted into the designated COVID-19 hospital, poor patients are facing many inconveniences. A portion of the hospital should be earmarked for treating other patients, they said.

Madikeri, Feb 23: Back-to-back floods and landslides in the last two years, has led to a fall in the number of tourists coming to the coffee-growing region of Kodagu, forcing the district administration to intervene and take confidence-building measures, telling tourists that Kodagu was safe to visit.

According to the statistics of the Karnataka State Tourism Department, Kodagu recorded a moderately good number of tourists in 2018 and 2019, the years that the district witnessed devastating floods and landslides.

The Department’s statistics reveal that 17 lakh tourists visited Kodagu in 2018 and 18 lakh in 2019. This means the flood-ravaged years did attract tourists contrary to what the stakeholders had claimed.