Chartered flight by SAQCO lands in Mangaluru with 175 stranded Kannadigas from KSA
Mangaluru: The special chartered flight arranged by SAQCO Contracting Company’s Althaf Ullal and Basheer Sagar from Dammam International Airport landed at the Mangaluru International Airport in the wee hours of Thursday with 175 stranded Kannadigas from Saudi Arabia.
The special chartered flight was arranged to repatriate Kannadigas stranded in the kingdom due to the Corona lockdown. The businessmen duo of Althaf Ullal and Basheer Sagar the Directors of SAQCO Company borne the expenses of the flight along with the cost of institutional quarantine at Mangaluru of passengers and their COVID-19 tests here.
The company informed that it received over 500 applications in only three days from stranded Kannadigas in the kingdom for the repatriation. However, while making the final list of 175 passengers that would take the flight, priority was given to pregnant women, people with medical emergencies, senior citizens who had arrived in KSA on visit visas, and those who had to visit families in India after their families reported deaths.
The company in a release added that the flight which landed here at 01:15 am had 55 pregnant women, 20 people with medical emergencies, 61 senior citizens, 35 children/infants, and four people who had to come to India due to their parent’s death.
Notably, the chartered flight has no employee, staff, or official of SAQCO Company flying back to India, and the service was arranged only for those in need of repatriation for genuine reasons. Earlier, noted companies like ‘Expertise’ and Al-Muzain had repatriated their employees on chartered flights from Saudi.
Emotional scenes at Dammam International Airport:
Ahead of the take-off of the flight from Dammam International Airport on Wednesday evening, people at the airport witnessed emotional scenes as the 175 passengers could not hide their emotions on finally being able to start the journey back to their homes.
Basheer Sagar added that he was delighted to see the people smiling and rejoicing the moment and said that it gave them a sense of satisfaction to be able to have helped so many people in reuniting them with their families who were stranded and were in distress for over three months away from home.
Basheer also lauded the efforts of two teams of 20 people who he said had worked a day in and day out to make this a successful operation. He added that at least 30 passengers required wheelchairs at the airport and the team arranged it for them while also ensuring that all the 175 passengers’ procedures are carried smoothly without any inconvenience.
He later added that officials at the Dammam International Airport were also amused with the emotional scenes at the airport.
Move applauded on social media:
The move by Althaf and Basheer to repatriate Kannadigas in distress is being lauded across social media platforms. Several people applauded their gesture of bringing back 175 people who were in distress, back to their homes and carrying out one of its kind operations during the Corona lockdown wherein only people in genuine need were brought back and no employee, staff or official from their own company was traveling on the flight.
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AIITA welcomes Karnataka’s ban on obscene songs in school events
Bhatkal: The Karnataka unit of the All India Ideal Teachers Association (AIITA) has welcomed the Karnataka government’s decision to strictly ban school children from dancing to obscene songs during educational and cultural programmes in government, aided, and private schools across the state.
AIITA Karnataka State President M. R. Manvi congratulated the government for taking what he termed an important step to preserve the sanctity of education.
“Such decisions to safeguard the dignity of school children and uphold the values of education are the need of the hour. This rule should not be limited to government schools alone but must be strictly implemented in all private educational institutions as well,” he said.
He further urged the government to address other concerns within school programmes.
“The government should not only prohibit obscene dances in the name of school anniversaries, but also ensure that plays and dialogues that incite religious hatred are avoided. Schools should be centres of harmony, not platforms for spreading hatred,” he added.
According to a recent circular issued by the Department of School Education and Literacy, obscene dances are adversely affecting the mental health and moral values of students.
In this regard, schools have been advised to use songs that promote nationalism, positive thinking, the greatness of Kannada culture, and value-based traditions instead of inappropriate content during programmes.
The circular also emphasises that students should be dressed in decent attire.
AIITA also backed the department’s warning that disciplinary action would be taken against head teachers if such guidelines are violated. The association has further demanded that district Deputy Directors of Public Instruction strictly monitor the implementation of these rules.
