Sadananda Gowda blames official apathy for non-introduction of Kudla Express

[email protected] (CD Network)
March 28, 2017

Mangaluru, Mar 28: Union Minister D V Sadananda Gowda has blamed the apathy of officials concerned for non-introduction of Bengaluru-Mangaluru Kudla Express announced by him when he was Railway Minister three years ago.

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Mr Gowda, who is currently the Minister for Statistics and Programme Implementation, on Sunday skipped the inauguration of the new Bengaluru-Hassan railway line at Yeshwantpur in protest against the Railways’ failure to introduce the Kudla Express.

Soon after taking over as the Railway Minister in 2014, Mr. Gowda sanctioned sufficient funds to speed up the new line construction, that had been pending for two decades, after being sanctioned by then Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda. Sadananda Gowda had set March 2016 as a deadline for the project’s completion.

At the same time, Mr. Sadananda Gowda had also announced a Bengaluru-Mangaluru express train via Mysuru in the Railway Budget. The South Western Railway, which had recently proposed to operate the train via the newly constructed route, did not introduce the same citing non-availability of coaches.

Mr. Gowda said that he had written to Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu urging him to introduce the train on the new route. “Mr. Prabhu had responded positively,” he said. Mr. Gowda alleged that the train could not be introduced owing to the apathy of officials concerned. “There is no reason for non-introduction of Kudla Express as 17 out of 18 new trains announced by me are already operational,” he added.

“I had announced the train for the benefit of residents of the coastal region I hail from. It would particularly have helped women passengers undertake long journeys,” Mr. Gowda said.

“I did not have any answer if questioned [for non-introduction] and hence skipped the event,” he said.

Protocol-wise too, Mr. Gowda had to attend the inaugural programme as Yeshwantpur falls under Bengaluru North Lok Sabha constituency represented by him.

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News Network
March 19,2024

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Mangaluru: The Mangalore International Airport (MIA) will connect to a new domestic destination with the introduction of a non-stop flight to Tiruchirappalli International Airport in Tamil Nadu. 

The non-stop service, once-a-week, will operate on Wednesday (from TIA) and Thursday (from MIA), starting April 3. Air India Express will operate the flight.

The flight is expected to help those taking up a pilgrimage to Vailankani shrine.

Sources from the AIE said that the airline carrier decided to fly non-stop between the two southern Indian cities as a flight to Jeddah, which will start from April 3, arrives from Tiruchirappalli International Airport. 

“It is a ferry or positional flight from TIA to MIA. Instead of flying empty, the management has decided to run it as a commercial flight. This will help both passengers and the airline. The airline will deploy Boeing 737-800 aircraft with a 186-seater all-economy configuration on this route. 

The same flight, after landing in MIA, will further fly to Jeddah,” a source said. 

The flight IX 1498 will depart every Thursday at 5am from MIA to TIA. The TIA-MIA flight IX 1499 departs at 12.50pm. It is a one-hour nonstop flight. The same flights will also operate nonstop between Jeddah and MIA. 

The non-stop flight IX 499 will depart MIA at 2.50pm and reach King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah at 6.25pm. The IX498, will depart from Jeddah at 7.25pm and reach MIA early at 3.40am.

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News Network
March 19,2024

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Bengaluru, Mar 19: Former Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday said that the Congress will split in three months after the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and its impact will be visible on the Siddaramaiah-led state government.

"Due to internal squabbles, the state government will not last long," the BJP leader said.

Talking to reporters on Monday, he said the sitting MP from the Gadag-Haveri constituency, Shivakumar Udasi, has done a lot of development work and implemented the Central government's schemes effectively.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi will surely become the PM for the third time. The overall response has been good in the Gadag-Haveri Lok Sabha constituency," the former Karnataka chief minister said.

Asked if he was contesting the election in a half-hearted manner in the Gadag-Haveri seat, Bommai said "such a question does not arise when the party's high command gives instructions".

He said he would respect his opponent and not take anyone lightly. 

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News Network
March 10,2024

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Sayyid Abdul Rahiman Bafaki Thangal Foundation has alleged that the post of Mangalore University vice-chancellor was denied to eminent professor and scholar Muzaffar Assadi despite his name being on top of the list sent by the govt.

Foundation general secretary A S Ebrahim Kareem Kadaba told reporters here on Saturday that they would seek opinion from experts and explore possibilities of challenging the appointment of VC for Mangaluru.

“The state cabinet had sent separate lists with three names each for the appointment of VCs of universities in the state. Scholar Assadi’s name was on top of the list of candidates for MU. However, prof Assadi’s name was ignored while filling the post. We suspect it as a conspiracy to hide the irregularities taking place in the university for the past several years,” Ebrahim said, adding Prof Assadi’s name was not considered for the post of Kuvempu University VC too, though his name was recommended for the post.

MU, which was founded in 1980 with prof Sheikh Ali as the first VC, had obtained Grade A in the NAAC ranking. 

However, the rank has now fallen to Grade B. Meanwhile, the university has also been facing a financial crunch in such a way that it is facing difficulties in paying salaries of teaching and non-teaching staff. Further, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has carried out a raid at the university recently, he said.

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