Trader from Agra dies of cardiac arrest in Mangalore

Mangaluru/ Bengaluru, May 10: Nearly 11,000 non-resident Kannadigas who are seeking repatriation from various countries across the world should be ready to shell out a huge amount for a two-week private quarantine in Karnataka before reaching their home.

The Kannadigas stranded in Gulf countries including UAE and Saudi Arabia have already expressed shock over the high airfare for repatriation during coronavirus lockdown. Another shocker is heavy quarantine fee once they reach their home state.

Officials in Mangaluru and Bengaluru have confirmed that administration has fixed charges for quarantine facilities starting from Rs 1,200 up to Rs 4,500, including food per day. 14 day quarantine will be mandatory for all healthy and asymptomatic international passengers. Hence, they should be ready to pay Rs 16,800  to Rs 63,000.

The other option is government quarantine centres: hostels run by social welfare, backward classes welfare and minority welfare departments but they are far from satisfactory. This is in stark contrast to the plush government quarantine facilities in Kerala.

In Mangaluru

The first repatriation flight to Mangaluru International Airport is expected to land on Tuesday, May 12 from Dubai.

The quarantine facilities include lodges, hostels and service apartments. Rates are fixed based on four categories: basic, economy, medium and premium. The basic facilities are mainly hostels of educational institutions, and the rest are budget and star hotels, said Rahul Shinde, probationary IAS officer, who is In-charge of the quarantine facilities for those being repatriated.

In Bengaluru

As many as 350 international passengers are set to arrive in Bengaluru at 3 am on Monday, May 11. So far, nobody has opted for government quarantine facilities, according to Lakshman Reddy, Joint Director, Social Welfare Department.

In Bengaluru, there are 55 hostels of the social welfare department, 51 of the backward classes welfare department and 12 of the minority welfare department. “We provide them with three square meals a day,” he added.

Bengaluru, Jun 5: A COVID-19 patient, who was admitted to Victoria hospital, has recovered from the disease after he was administered convalescent plasma therapy.

He is the second patient in the state who has recovered from COVID-19 after the therapy.

"I am happy to inform the second plasma therapy patient has recovered and shifted out of ICU. This middle-aged patient was admitted in Victoria hospital ICU with severe COVID-19 illness and was also diabetic with poor sugar control," Dr Vishal Rao, HCG Hospital Bengaluru said.

"The patient received convalescent plasma on May 27, since then there was steady improvement in patient's condition and was taken off high flow nasal oxygen on June 2, 2020, and is at present on a minimal oxygen, shifted toward yesterday. With the rapid recovery we hope to discharge the patient soon," he said.

Speaking further, Rao said: "This is a significant improvement and reassuring. We hope to see him recover completely and will closely monitor the condition going forward to send the patient from ward to home."

In Karnataka, 4,320 coronavirus cases have been reported including 1,610 cured/discharged/migrated and 57 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. 

Bengaluru, Jun 22: The Central Crime Branch (CCB) of Bengaluru Police has obtained the custody of an associate of gangster Ravi Pujari and is questioning him about his role in several cases against the gangster, the police said on Monday.

According to the police, Khan is convicted in the case related to the murder of a builder named Subba Rao in the year 2017. The accused has been identified as Yousuf Bacha Khan.

"Continuing the investigation of Ravi Poojary, CCB had obtained custody of Yousuf Bacha Khan, who is associate of Pujari. Khan was convicted in the Subba Rao murder case. He is being questioned about his role in other cases," Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sandeep Patil said.

The CCB had recently filed two charge sheets against gangster Ravi Pujari in Shabnam developers double murder case and an extortion case.

Pujari, who was wanted in several cases including ones related to heinous crimes like murder and extortion, was extradited to Bengaluru earlier this year from Senegal.

The gangster, who parted ways with underworld don Chhota Rajan, had jumped bail after he was arrested in Senegal in 2019 and had escaped to South Africa, where he was involved in drug trafficking and extortion.

According to sources in the Indian intelligence, Ravi Pujari was hiding under the false identity of Anthony Fernandes, a Burkina Faso passport holder, in a remote village in South Africa.