Extension of Bangalore-Mangalore train to Karwar hailed

Alappuzha, Jan 9: The houseboat of Nobel Laureate Michael Levitt was blocked in the backwaters here for some time by trade union activists, who were on a nationwide strike against the Centre's "anti-labour" policies on Wednesday.

Michael Levitt, an American-British-Israeli biophysicist and a professor of structural biology at the Stanford University in the United States, said the incident sent a bad message to tourists.

Levitt, who was in Kerala as a state guest, also said he felt as if a bandit had stopped his wife and him at gunpoint. Police said Levitt, who received the 2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, was in Alappuzha with his wife and they were stopped by the protesters near Kainakary.

"Being stopped by criminals on the backwaters sends a very bad message to tourists. It is as if a bandit stopped us at gunpoint and delayed us under the threat of force for one hour," Levitt wrote in an email to his tour agent at Kottayam.

In the email, which was later released to the media, he also said the person who blocked them "ignored all arguments that tourists were exempted" from the strike.

"This person, who did this, ignored all arguments that tourists were exempted and that I am a VIP guest of the Kerala government. He was obviously acting, knowing that he was safe from prosecution. Sadly, this makes me fear that India is sinking into lawlessness," Levitt wrote in the email.

The police registered a case after the houseboat owners filed a complaint in this regard.

Reacting to the incident, state Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran said the government would take strong action. "Strong action will be taken against those anti-social elements who stopped the boat. Levitt was here as a guest of the state government. The government had made it clear that the tourism industry was exempted from the strike," he said.

Trade union leaders had also announced that the strike would not affect the tourism industry.

Ten trade unions, including the INTUC, the AITUC and the CITU, had called for the nationwide strike to protest against the labour reforms, FDI, disinvestment, corporatisation and privatisation policies of the Centre and press for a 12-point demands of the working class, relating to minimum wage, among others.

Mysuru, Jan 27: Chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Sunday refused to field questions on the state’s finances, merely saying his budget on March 5 will do the talking. The question came in the wake of Siddaramaiah, leader of the opposition, claiming recently that the state’s coffers were dry and its finances were in the doldrums.

However, Yediyurappa insisted the state’s finances were sound and it will be better once promises made by the business community during his trip to Davos turn into concrete investment.

“I will present the budget for 2020-21 on March 5. People will then know about the state’s financial position,” Yediyurappa said during a visit to Suttur Mutt on Sunday. “I will answer Siddaramaiah’s comments during the forthcoming budget session of the state legislature. The Davos meet I attended will benefit the state immensely. It will bring huge investments that will promote industry and agriculture growth and various job-generation activities.”

Bengaluru, Apr 16: The Union Health Ministry on Wednesday has identified eight districts from Karnataka as COVID-19 hotspots.

Districts that have reported a higher number of cases are classified as hotspots, the districts where cases have been reported as non-hotspots, and green zones where no cases have been reported.

Bangalore Urban, Mysuru, Belagavi, Dakshina Kannada, Bidar, Kalaburgi, Bagalokote and Dharwad have been identified as Covid-19 hotspots by Union Health Ministry, tweeted the state health department on Wednesday.