Why Mangaluru ignored under Vande Bharat Mission?

P  A Hameed Padubidri
June 9, 2020

Is it highly impossible to have flights to Mangaluru under Vande Bharat Mission to repatriate the stranded Mangalureans in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries? The present mood of the govt seems so are more politics and less actions are seen. 

Amidst covid-19 lockdown, thousands of people from Mangaluru and surrounding areas are stranded in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. They include visitors, job redundants, people who need immediate medical attention, senior citizens, pregnant women, students and people who are eager to visit their ailing family members, especially aged parents back at home. They are all stuck over there seemingly with hopelessness.

It's reported that around Karnataka NRIs (KNRIs) have registered their names under the Mission in the Indian Embassy in Riyadh alone. A majority among them are apparently from coastal districts of Karnataka who are eagerly waiting for the flights to Mangaluru. 

The promises of elected representatives including MLAs, MPs, state and central ministers have remained unfulfilled so far. Now, things are being thrown from politicians to politicians and from politicians to the district authorities and vice versa. It's said that without proper quarantine facility in the district, the repatriation flights can't be approved to Mangaluru. 

Rumours are doing rounds that the hotels in Mangaluru are not ready to facilitate for the KNRIs quarantines; the hoteliers collectively snubbed the instruction of the district authorities. Now, they are, as informed, persuading the hoteliers to allow for the quarantine facility. 

If the hoteliers are stubborn to follow the instructions of the district administration, then why the authorities are not taking action against them under relevant statutory procedure including the revocation/cancellation of their licenses? Are they above the law or govt? For whom the authorities are waiting for? These questions are now being asked by the KNRIs and others. 

Considering this condition, the central ministers and MPs are simply giving evasive answers without any forward thinking. Each one is simply uttering the same dialogue "no quarantine; no flights to Mangaluru". 

A few KNRI businessmen in Saudi Arabia have already chartered flights to transport their stranded employees and others to Mangaluru with the approval of the govt of India. But, the inconsolable thing is that the govt didn't arrange this simple thing that too with the expense of the travellers. 

The people-especially then distressed NRIs still remember late prime minister V P Singh and then external affairs minister I K Gujral for the repatriation of the NRIs during 1990s Gulf war. Everything was free of cost and immediate special flights were arranged to airlift the NRIs in the affected countries. 

Now both Karnataka and India are ruled by the BJP. Then why the non resident Kannadigas, especially those in Saudi Arabia, are direly neglected at this point in time?. Why it's highly impossible for the govts to do this simple job for the KNRIs?  The NRIs are always big assets to the govt. Also, the KNRIs remit billions of rupees to the state in the form of foreign exchange. But, they are now simply ignored. The state govt should immediately look into this dire situation of the Kannadigas in Saudi Arabia and act immediately to schedule special flights to Mangaluru from Saudi Arabia.

Comments

lovely Indian
 - 
Wednesday, 10 Jun 2020

because we have  MP nallinnan and in centre they consider muslim as enemy...we muslim must develop muslim community. today you give food & help kit tommorow they support BJP to harass muslim community..  even the educated ppl also same nowdays...look at UP doctor. if they dont give right to live in our own country then we must take it forcefully with or without blood

 

if they dont give right to live in our own country then we must take it forcefully with or without blood(1260 BAIBER the islamic worrier)

Abdul Muthalib…
 - 
Tuesday, 9 Jun 2020

Really good & timely writing by P A Hameed,

Even if we pay the flights fares, why the flights are not granted to Msngaluru as there are good number of presence of the Kannadiga Non Residents in Saudi Arabia & other gulf countries. Such a simple service can't be done by our Govt of Karnataka & India. It's really a surprise at the inaction of our people's representatives especially coastal regions including central minister. 
If Central & State Ruling by BJP than we can expect only this....

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News Network
June 27,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 27: Announcing Karnataka’s ambitious plan to install a 108-ft-tall statue of Nadaprabhu Kempegowda outside the airport, deputy chief minister Ashwath Narayan said the government will bear the project cost — approximately Rs 78 crore.

Work on the project will formally commence with the chief minister laying foundation stone for installation of the statue and development of a 23-acre park where it will come up, on Saturday.

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An artist’s impression of the 108-ft-tall statue, which is proposed to come up in a 23-acre park outside KIA. The chief minister will perform bhoomi puja on Saturday.

KPCC president DK Shivakumar on Thursday suggested the cost be borne by Kempegowda International Airport and not the government. He wrote to the CM welcoming the decision to erect a statue of the chieftain at KIA, but asked why should the govenment spend on it. “When huge concessions have been provided to KIA, why not use its services to construct the statue,” he asked. Narayan, who is chairman of Kempegowda Development Authority, said it is the government’s duty to bear the cost.

The government has released sketches of the statue and a blueprint of the park. Noted sculptor Ram Sutar, who designed the Gandhi statue located between Vidhana Soudha and Vikasa Soudha and the Statue of Unity in Gujarat, will be part of this project as well.

Narayan said the government was not competing with any other state on having a tallest/largest statue while emphasising that Kempegowda ensured the city had tanks, markets and drainage system when it was founded. He added the government won’t invite many guests to Saturday’s ceremony. “Most legislators will be given a virtual link to view the event,” he said.

Comments

Arif, Mangaluru
 - 
Saturday, 27 Jun 2020

When the economic situation is very bad they are wasting people's money on these things now! These statues can be built when the peoples' basic things are first fulfilled. The title of this topic should be "People to bear the burden of Rs.78 crore", there is nothing like governments money, it's all belong to people.

Mohammad Mubarak
 - 
Saturday, 27 Jun 2020

What is the neccessity of spending tax payers money in building Statue when there is great need of these amount in improving the quality of Health sector during COVID-19 Pandemic. Government must be smart enough to prioritise the need of the people.

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News Network
February 21,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 21: Historian Ramachandra Guha on Thursday refuted Karnataka home minister Basavaraj Bommai's claim that the latter had apologised for police allegedly manhandling him during an anti-CAA protest in the city, saying he received no such call or apology.

The writer further said even if such an apology had been offered, he would have rejected it.

"The Home Minister of Karnataka has claimed on the floor of the State Assembly that he apologised to me by phone for the manhandling by the Bengaluru police on 19th December 2019. This is false.

I received no such call or apology," Guha tweeted.

"Even if such an apology had been offered, I would have rejected it.

The imposition of Section 144 was illegal (as the Karnataka High Court has since held) and I was proud to be one of thousands of peaceful protesters who defied the States arbitrary action on that day," he said in another tweet.

During his reply to the debate on law and order situation in the state, Bommai on Wednesday claimed that he had apologised to Guha.

The minister was apologising to senior Congress MLA and former Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar for police serving him notice and detaining him along with others at Mangaluru airport in December for trying to enter the city despite restrictions following violence there.

Stating that anti-CAA protests have taken place peacefully across the state, he had said, there might have been minor discrepancies, like that with historian Ramachandra Guha, being manhandled during a protest.

"I have called and apologised to him," he had said.

Guha was detained on December 19 for staging a demonstration against the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens at the Town Hall here, in defiance of the prohibitory orders imposed in the city.

He was taken away by police personnel and led to a police vehicle parked nearby.

Leader of Opposition in the assembly and former chief minister Siddaramaiah said Bommai has committed a "perjury" in the House, and asked him to apologise to people and Guha in front of media.

"Bommai has committed a perjury on the floor of the House. It answers the question of where @BJP4India workers derive their motivation to spread fake news.

Bommai has insulted the people whom he represents," he tweeted and demanded that he apologize to people and Guha.

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News Network
April 2,2020

Kasaragod, Apr 2: Kerala reported 21 new cases of coronavirus with eight from the worst affected Kasaragod district, taking the tally of active patients to 256, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Thursday.

Besides, Kasaragod, five positive cases have been detected from Idukki, two from Kollam and one each from Thiruvananthapuram, Pathnamthitta, Thrissur, Malappuram, Kozhikode and Kannur, he told reporters here.

At least 1.65 lakh people are under survillence in the state, 643 in various hospitals.

Presently, 256 people are under treatment for the virus in the state where two fatalities have occurred, Vijayan said.

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