TN woman bus driver quits following row over ticketing MP Kanimozhi
Coimbatore (TN) (PTI): The city's first woman driver, Sharmila on Friday quit her job over a controversy surrounding issuing of bus ticket to DMK MP Kanimozhi who preferred to travel in the vehicle with the youngster behind the wheel.
Sharmila alleged Kanimozhi was 'disrespected' by a woman conductor over carrying a ticket although the DMK MP bought one.
The issue seemed to be over tickets for those accompanying Kanimozhi.
Barely minutes after the DMK Parliamentarian took a ride from Gandhipuram to Peelamedu in the city, Sharmila said she had to give up her "dream job" allegedly after her colleague disrespected Kanimozhi and also because her management accused her of seeking publicity by inviting prominent personalities to travel in the bus.
"As promised, Kanimozhi madam had come to travel in the bus in which I was driving. But the conductor had asked the MP to buy the ticket and this led to an argument between me and the conductor," Sharmila told reporters.
She claimed she had intimated her management about the proposed visit of the MP but she could not digest the "disrespect" meted out to the DMK leader.
When she and her father took up the issue with the management she was accused of seeking publicity by inviting prominent personalities to travel in her bus, Sharmila, aged 24, who became popular as the city's first woman bus driver, said. Several of her videos had gone viral on social media.
She said BJP legislator Vanathi Srinivasan too had earlier travelled in her bus.
The transport owner Durai Kannan however denied being informed about Kanimozhi's visit today.
"Had we been intimated, we would have made proper arrangements for the MP," he told reporters here.
Also, he refuted a charge that the management forced Sharmila to quit the job and said that she left on her own accord.
Earlier, Kanimozhi who arrived in the city to participate in a meeting on cyber crimes against women, lauded Sharmila for her efforts in becoming a bus driver.
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West Asia war: Vessel carrying 20,000 tonnes of LPG reaches Gujarat crossing Strait of Hormuz
Kandla (Gujarat) (PTI): A vessel carrying 20,000 metric tonnes of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) arrived at Deendayal Port Authority in Kandla in Gujarat after crossing the Strait of Hormuz amid the West Asia crisis, officials said on Sunday.
The Marshall Islands-flagged MV SYMI started its journey from Qatar and docked at the port in Kandla around 11.30 pm on Saturday after crossing the Strait of Hormuz on May 13, they added.
Since early March, 13 India-flagged vessels, comprising 12 LPG tankers and one crude oil tanker, have crossed the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway close to the coast of Oman through which roughly one-fifth of the world's energy supplies pass.
It has been severely disrupted by the conflict in West Asia that started on February 28, with the US and Israel launching joint attacks on Iran, triggering retaliatory strikes. It has resulted in one of the worst energy crisis the world has seen in recent decades.
Incidentally, at a special meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UNECOSOC) on safeguarding energy and supply flows, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Parvathaneni Harish said targeting commercial shipping, endangering civilian crew and impeding freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz is "unacceptable".
On May 13, an India-flagged commercial vessel came under attack off the coast of Oman.
Omani authorities rescued all 14 crew members of the vessel sailing from Somalia, but it was not immediately known who carried out the strike.
