Tortured in Saudi desert, Ullal youth pleads for his rescue from the clutches of sponsor

[email protected] (CD Network)
June 23, 2012

Mangalore, Jun 23: A woman has sought Mangalore city police's help to rescue her young son from the clutches of an unknown sponsor in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

23-year-old Ashraf, son of Asiyamma and Late Abdul Gafoor from Kotepur, Ullal, had left for the oil rich nation on April 27 after obtaining a visa sent by a third party to Nisa Travel Agency in Kannur, Kerala.

desertHowever, a few days later Ashraf called Asiyamma to inform her that the visa agent had deceived him. Though he had been promised the job of 'office boy', he was forced to work day and night in an isolated desert.

After this call there was no communication from Ashraf for nearly two months. However, recently Asiyamma's brother received an unknown ISD missed call. When he called back, he heard the voice of Ashraf, who explained about the physical and mental torture that he has been undergoing in the desert. He informed that his health condition has also deteriorated due to torture and lack of food. He also requested to rescue him from the clutches of the cruel sponsor.

Asiyamma, who submitted a memorandum to city police chief Seemant Kumar Singh on Friday, demanding the police intervention to rescue Ashraf, said that she had spent over Rs 60,000 to send her bread winning son abroad.

She said that one Farooq from Manjeshwar had initially approached her son to inform about the requirement of an 'office boy' in KSA.

When contacted, Farooq said that his neighbor Abdullah, who is working in KSA, had asked him to inform if there was any aspirant for 'office boy' visa.

“Accordingly, I contacted one of my relatives, who in turn suggested Ashraf's name. As Ashraf agreed to move abroad, Abdullah called me to inform that the visa had already been sent to 'Nisa Travel Agency.  I asked Ashraf to collect it after confirming its authenticity, as I had not even seen it”, Farooq said.

Asiyamma said that when her brothers recently contacted Abdullah directly and told him about Ashraf's hardships, he demanded a sum of Saudi Riyal 10,000, i.e. Rs 1.5 lakh to rescue him.

She said that Abdullah himself is mainly responsible for her son's condition as it was he who received him at an Airport in KSA and handed him over to an unknown sponsor.

She urged Mr Singh to inquire into this 'cheating' case and help her son to get freedom from the unknown sponsor.

Farooq said that he was shocked when he came to know the fact. “Later, I also contacted Abdullah over phone to ask whether he had cheated an innocent youth after promising him 'office boy' job? However, I did not get proper reply from him. He just told me that the visa was sent by some of his relatives and not by him”, he said. “I even did not know who the agent of that visa was”, Farooq added.

Having completed only his primary education, Ashraf was working at a mill in Ullal before flying abroad.

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News Network
May 11,2020

May 11: The Karnataka government appears set to roll out red carpet welcome to foreign companies seeking to move out of China.

The State's Large and Medium Scale Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar said the Government plans to constitute a task force, under the Chairmanship of the Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar, to spearhead the drive to attract such investment. A proposal to this effect has been sent to the Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa for approval, the Minister told PTI in an interview.

This panel would take feedback and suggestions from a consultative committee to be formed with prominent industrialists from the State and representatives of various countries located here, Shettar said.

In recent days, the Minister held consultations with industrialists such as co-founder and Non-Executive Chairman of Infosys Ltd, Nandan M Nilekani, Executive Chairperson of Biocon Ltd, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Chairman of early-stage startup accelerator and venture fund Axilor Ventures Senapathy (Kris) Gopalakrishnan to fine-tune the States outreach push.

Shettar also held interactions with industry bodies, including Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI), Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) and Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (KASSIA).

Industrialists who took part in the deliberations suggested to the government to focus on ease of doing business and improving the single window clearance system for approvals, as the Minister spelt out government's intent of further improving the investment climate to attract industries to Karnataka.

To boost the industry sentiment in the State, they also stressed the need on easing land acquisition regulations, and leveraging the knowledge base of Bengaluru to promote technology-based manufacturing.

"Given the interest shown by some companies in moving their manufacturing bases out of China, the industry leaders recommended that the State government identify a target list of 100 firms to reach out to for attracting to the State, and work out a strategy to bring them to Karnataka," an Industry department official said.

The industry leaders assured cooperation from the private sector in reaching out to and facilitating interactions with CEOs of these companies.

Shettar said restrictions on acquisition of agriculture land for starting industries have now been relaxed with the passage of an amendment to the land reforms act in the recent Legislature session.

This would facilitate immediate land allotment to industries, he added.

The Minister has also submitted a proposal to the Chief Minister on relaxing labour laws.

Secretary General of industry body ASSOCHAM, Deepak Sood, told news agency recently that there is a broader consensus that the global manufacturing supply chain would be more spread than concentrated in major economies like China.

"If India comes out of the present crisis with minimum of impact, we can be the destination of choice for the global manufacturing giants in different sectors like electronics, computer hardware, pharmaceuticals, including medical devices, automobile, including components and other engineering products," Sood had said.

Gopalakrishnan, also co-founder of Infosys and former CII President, said India has to target companies which have operations in China, reach out to them, understand what their needs are and hold discussions with them.

"We have to make sure that their requirements are addressed, be it with regard to land, office space, faster approvals, and some concessions on local taxes. It depends on the businesses that the companies are in, and if we are able to respond to those requests, I think we will be able to attract them", he told news agency.

"All states will compete for this business (foreign investment)," Gopalakrishnan added.

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News Network
March 19,2020

Karwar, Mar 19: Four drug peddlers were arrested on Thursday and 2.68 Kg of brown sugar worth Rs 2 Crore was seized from them while they were smuggling the banned drug by road from Yellapura to Ankola.

Police identified the arrested persons as Narayan (35), Chandrahas Gunaga (29), Veerabhadra Hegade (43) and Praveen Bhat (30).

Police have registered a case and investigations are ongoing.

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News Network
January 26,2020

New Delhi, Jan 26: On the occasion of the 71st Republic Day, Karnataka state's tableau depicted the philosophy of Basaveshwara and the concept of Anubhava Mantapa (Centre for Experience), which was the socio-religious centre that existed in the present-day Basava Kalyana of Bidar district in Karnataka.

It is regarded as the first religious parliament in the history of mankind.

This 12th-century centre has a special significance in the history of humanity, as it represents composite culture, philosophy, spirituality, equality among other universal human values.

These values were propagated by the saint and social reformer- Basaveshwara and other sharanas- followers of Basava philosophy of the socio-religious movement.

It is significant that representatives of Anubhava Mantapa were nominated based on their spiritual attainment, regardless of caste, class and sect they belonged and thus discarded the differentiation of human beings as higher or lower, on the basis of birth, occupation and gender.

The front part of the tableau has the replica of Basaveshwara preaching his most cherished value - "Work is Worship".

For Republic Day Parade 2020, a total of 56 tableaux proposals (32 from states/UTs and 24 from Ministries/Departments) were received. Out of these, 22 were shortlisted for participation in the Republic Day Parade 2020.

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