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Koppal, Aug 3: The activists of Popular Front of India (PFI) have won the heart of the people by performing the last rites of a local leader of Bharatiya Janata Party in Koppla district of Karnataka. 

Somashekhara Gowda, a senior BJP leader in Koppal’s Gangavathi died of covid-19. His family members were reportedly quarantined. His own party activists also were not ready to participate in the last rite due to the fear of coronavirus infection.

Following requests, a team of PFI comprised of district secretary Fayaz, and members Yaseen, Abdul Aalam, Shamid Razi and Husain Azarauddin performed the last rites as per Veerashaiva Lingayat traditions. 

Speaking to media persons PFI district president Zaheer Abbas lamented that people still have plenty of misconceptions about covid-19. “Due to the misconceptions, performing the last rites of those who die of covid-19 has become a challenge,” he said.

He said that PFI activists followed all the health guidelines and took necessary precautions while performing the last rites. “Under the guidance of district health officials and with the consent of the family members of the deceased, the last rites were performed as per Veerashaiva Lingayat traditions,” he said.

Bengaluru, Aug 2: All the seven Airports in Karnataka have seen poor traffic even after the restoration of domestic flight services post covid-19 lockdown. Interestingly, Mangaluru International Airport, the second biggest in the state, has slipped to third position in number of number of passengers and flights. 

Of all the seven airports in State-- Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Hubballi, Belagavi, Mysuru, Kalaburagi and Vijaynagara (Hosapete)-- it was the Sambra (Belagavi) airport which saw the highest number of passengers and flights after Bengaluru. 

According to Airports Authority of India report released on their website recently, the Sambra airport outperformed the Managluru international airport in June. 

As many 10,224 passengers travelled to or from Belagavi airport in June, whereas Mangaluru airport saw a footfall of only 8,608 passengers including 3,726 international and 4,882 domestic passengers. Belagavi airport handled 391 flights whereas Mangaluru airport handled 190 flights.

Even the Bengaluru international airport saw a decline in the number of passengers and flights in June. Only 3.69 lakh domestic and 10,654 international passengers arrived or departed from Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru in June as against 27.59 lakh total passengers in June 2019. 

Between April-June 2020 the Bengaluru airport saw only 4.54 lakh total passengers (domestic and international) as against 84.11 lakh total passenger during the same period last year. The number of flights to and from Bengaluru also saw a huge dip in June with only 731 international (2,582 in June 2019) and 4290 domestic (16,216 in June 2019) flights.

Though the Mysuru domestic airport handled a higher number of flights compared to last June, the number of passengers either arriving or departing saw a decline. Last year June 4,775 passengers travelled in 96 flights, whereas in June 2020 the airport handled 3,158 passengers and 330 flights.

Hubballi airport saw the least number of passengers or flights among the seven airports in Karnataka in June. It saw only 55 passengers either arriving or departing from the city's airport in 14 flights in the month of June. In the same month last year, Hubballi airport, which was third busiest before the pandemic, had facilitated 45,973 passengers and handled 604 flights.

Since April 2020 to June, the Hubballi airport has handled only 18 flights (as against 1,958 during the same period last year) and 122 passengers (1,50,416 between April-June 2019).