Mangaluru, Mar 25: A youth was was killed after being knocked down by a train near Thokkottu on the outskirts of the city on Friday.
The decease has been identified as Avil Roshan D'Souza (32), a resident of Kolya village near here.
It is learnt that the youth was walking on the tracks at Kapikad near Thokkottu when the tragedy took place.
A case has been registered. Authorities are likely quiz the motorman of the train to establish the sequence of events leading to the youth's death.
Bengaluru, May 20: Ride-sharing company Ola Cabs said on Wednesday it will lay off 1,400 of its employees due to business uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic while the revenue has come down by 95 per cent in the past two months.
"The COVID crisis continues to unfold all around us causing unprecedented economic and social destruction. It has also become evident that the coronavirus will not be eliminated any time soon," wrote co-founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal to all Ola employees.
"In these circumstances, today I write to all of you with the toughest decision I have ever taken -- the need to downsize our organisation and let go of 1,400 of our valued employees," he said.
Aggarwal said the fallout of virus has been very tough for the cab aggregating industry in particular. "The company's revenue has come down by 95 per cent over the past two months," he said.
Initially, he said, the company hoped it would be a short-lived crisis and that its impact would be temporary. "But unfortunately, it is not been a short crisis. And the prognosis ahead for our business is very unclear and uncertain. It is going to take a long time for people to go out and about like before."
With more companies preferring to have a large number of employees work from home, air travel limited to essential trips and vacations being put off for better times, the impact of this crisis is definitely going to be long-drawn, said Aggarwal.
"The world is not going to revert to the pre-COVID era anytime soon. Social distancing, anxiety and an abundance of caution will be the operating principles for everyone," he told employees.
Aggarwal said the crisis necessitates the need to conserve cash aggressively so that Ola is able to invest in opportunities in the future, adding the downsizing exercise has been a very tough and sad decision for the management team to make.
"While we restructure our organisation to the new realities of our business, we are also going to recommit ourselves to strengthening our operational excellence and leverage a lot more technology to improve efficiencies and reduce cost across all parts of our business," he said.
Bengaluru, Apr 16: The Karnataka government on Wednesday identified 14 departments as essential and asked all its employees to attend work during the extended period of lockdown to check coronavirus spread in the state.
According to a circular issued by Chief Secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar, all classes of officials/employees in these departments must attend to their work.
The departments are: Health and Family Welfare, Medical Education, Home, Revenue, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Urban Development, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Information and Public Relations, Transport, Energy, Personnel and Administrative Reforms (e-Governance), Finance (including treasuries), Animal Husbandry and Fisheries and Forest, Ecology and Environment.
In all other departments, only Group-A officers have been directed to report for duty.
However, those visually-impaired or physically-
handicapped are exempt from work, the circular said, adding that this norms will be valid till April 19.
Kasaragod, Mar 31: Two more Kasaragod natives lost their lives on Monday due to blockade of the interstate border by Karnataka police in the wake of outbreak of novel coronavirus.
They could not get emergency health care as the Karnataka police stopped the ambulance carrying them to a hospital in Mangaluru at the border.
Another critically-ill person, who was sent back by Manguluru hospital authorities on March 23 for being a Kasaragod native, also died on Monday.
This is the fifth such case in many days.
The deceased are Madhavan, 50, Ayesha, 55 and Aziz Haji, 61 respectively.
All three of them lived near the Karnataka border.
Madhavan, who hailed from Thummanattu in Manjeswaram, died enroute to Kanhangad hospital after being denied entry to cross over to Karnataka. He had an acute bronchial attack.
Udyavar native Ayesha, an asthma patient, was referred to the Mangaluru Hospital by the hospital authorities at Uppali. When the authorities stopped her at the border, she was taken to the Kanhangad hospital. However, she died before reaching the hospital.
Aziz Haji, from Nayabazar Cherugoli MA Cottage at Uppala, was allegedly refused entry into a Manguluru Hospital on March 23 on account of being a Kasaragod native. Haji was a dialysis patient at the hospital. “We were unable to contact his doctor at the time,” his relatives said. Haji, who was on the ventilator, lost his life Monday morning.
One more from Kerala dies as Karnataka police stop ambulance at border
Kunjathoor native Abdul Hameed and Bandwal native Fathima also lost their lives due to the closing of the interstate border.
The district authorities has appealed to the Government to intervene in the matter and influence Karnataka as to lift a ban in crossing over for ambulances carrying critical patients.
The people of Kasaragod are largely dependent on the medical facilities in Mangaluru for critical illness care.
The Kasaragod MP, Rajmohan Unnithan has said he would move the Supreme court against this.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has already taken up the issue with the Centre.
Kerala HC takes up issue with Karnataka AAG
The Kerala High Court on Monday sought the views of the Advocate General of Karnataka on the issue of the government of the neighbouring state blocking its borders with Kerala.
Considering a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Kerala High Court Advocates Association, seeking a direction for opening the roads, a bench comprising Justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Shaji P Chali requested the Advocate General of Karnataka to join the hearing at 11 am on Tuesday through video conferencing.
The Court orally observed that the blockades erecting embankments on the inter-state roads would affect the people's right to life.
The Karnataka government blocked the state highway with to prevent movement of vehicles carrying essential goods and people seeking emergency treatment at hospitals in the city of Mangalore bordering Kasaragod.
With 97 infected patients, Kasaragod has the largest number of COVID-19 cases in Kerala. 7,437 people are under observation in the district.
Comments
Whatever may be the reason, a precious life is lost. He might be sole bread earner for his family. May GOD show HIS mercy on his family to bear this loss.
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