Udupi, 12 Mar: Jaya Karnataka’s Udupi district committee has announced that they along with all their members and others will boycott the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The decision comes as the organisation believes neither state government nor the Central government have resolved the issue of sand mining in the district.

Addressing the gathering of its members outside Udupi war memorial, Jaya Karnataka District President Sathish Poojary Saligrama said that the state and central governments failed to resolve issue of sand mining despite several protests in the district. He alleged poor families have availed loans from banks to construct homes but were struggling to build home with scarcity of sand in the district.

“Both Central and State governments are failing to be fair to the district in various ways. Why should we vote for them? During the elections they come and seek our votes. Both MP and the MLA have failed to fulfill our demands. So we have decided to boycott this Lok Sabha election” he said.

“Udupi-Chikmagalur MP Shobha Karandlaje has not worked in the district for five years. If she is contesting the election as an candidate we will not support her at any cost. She completely ignored our district and did not even respond to case of seven missing fishermen, the murders and the sand problems” Satish Poojary added while also adding that their fight was against the legislators and not against a particular party.

Karunakar Poojary, office bearers Ganesh Raj Saralabettu, Annappa Kulal Hebri, Harish Shetty Uchila, Mahesh Kotian Uppoor, Sudhakar Rao Barkur, Ratnakar Mogaveera Havanje, Vivek Kalmadi, Mahesh Manipal, Srinivas Shetty Tonsey are present during the event.

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Mangaluru: Several flights operating to Gulf destinations from Mangaluru International Airport will remain cancelled on March 1 amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.

The cancellations follow the closure of multiple airspaces after strikes on Iran by Israel and the United States on Saturday. As a precautionary measure, Indian airlines have suspended services to several destinations in the Gulf region.

According to airport sources, the following Air India Express (IX) flights scheduled for March 1 and March 2 have been cancelled due to operational reasons:

IX845 (March 1) – Mangaluru–Jeddah

IX846 (March 1) – Jeddah–Mangaluru

IX817 (March 1) – Mangaluru–Muscat

IX818 (March 1) – Muscat–Mangaluru

IX831 (March 1) – Mangaluru–Dubai

IX832 (March 1) – Dubai–Mangaluru

IX813 (March 1) – Mangaluru–Dubai

IX814 (March 2) – Dubai–Mangaluru

IX841 (March 1) – Mangaluru–Bahrain

IX842 (March 2) – Bahrain–Mangaluru

IX815 (March 1) – Mangaluru–Abu Dhabi

IX816 (March 2) – Abu Dhabi–Mangaluru

Among these, the inaugural Mangaluru–Muscat service also stands cancelled.

IndiGo (6E) has also cancelled the following flights on March 1:

6E1468 (March 1) – Dubai–Mangaluru

6E1467 (March 1) – Mangaluru–Dubai

6E1438 (March 1) – Mangaluru–Abu Dhabi

Air India Express suspends flights to gulf sector till 1 March

Low-cost carrier Air India Express which operates a large network of flights connecting various Indian cities to the Middle East have announced suspended of all its flights until 23:59 hrs on 1 March 2026.

In a statement issued on Saturday evening, the airline said, “Air India Express flights to the Gulf region are suspended till 23:59 hrs on 1 March 2026. Guests are eligible for a free date change or cancellation for travel scheduled till 5 March 2026.”

Meanwhile other airlines also followed suit, Spice Jet, Indigo and Air India urged passengers to check flight status.

 

Budget carrier Akasa Air separately announced that it has suspended all operations to Gulf destinations until March 2, 2026.