Dakshina Kannada DC rubbishes ‘July 8 to 25’ lockdown rumours

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.

Mangaluru, Jan 31: The Pumpwell flyover, part of the four-laning of Talapady-Kundapura stretch of National Highway 66, was finally inaugurated today.

Work on four-laning NH 66 between Talapady-Kundapur, excluding the Nanthoor-NITK Surathkal stretch, started in September 2010 and Pumpwell (Mahaveera Circle) flyover was a part of the project. Concessionnaire M/s Navayuga Udupi Tollway Pvt., Ltd., failed to execute many flyovers on the stretch within the prescribed time, including Thokkottu and Pumpwell in Mangaluru, Karavali Circle in Udupi, and Shasri Circle in Kundapur.

Thokkottu and Karavali Circle flyovers are complete now while Shastri Circle flyover as well as the four-lane road within Kundapur town are still incomplete. Similarly, a small bridge and portion of the road in Padubidri too is yet to be completed.

District in-charge minister Kota Srinivas Pojjary and MP Nalin Kumar Kateel inaugurated the long-pending Flyover

MLA Vedavayas Kamath, MLA Bharath Shetty were also present on the occasion.

Bengaluru, Feb 8: The Department of Religious Endowments in Karnataka will undertake 'Ratha Yatras' in 110 major temples of the state, in order to inform the public about mass marriages, scheduled to be held on April 26.

The publicity campaign through Rath Yatra will be flagged off from Mookambika temple in Kollur of Udupi district from February 13.

The mass marriage programme 'Saptapadi,' would be held in 100 major temples of Muzrai department. The second phase would be held on May 24, Minister for Ports, Fisheries and Muzrai Kota Srinivas Poojary told newspersons here on Friday.