Guardiola to pay $177,000 towards releasing rescue ship impounded in Italy
Barcelona, June 12: Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola has agreed to pay 150,000 euros ($177,000) towards the release of a migrant rescue ship that was impounded by Italian authorities as it operated in the Mediterranean, the founder of the humanitarian NGO linked with the vessel said on Tuesday.
Italy's Prosecutor had ordered the impounding of the Proactiva Open Arms in the port of Pozzallo in March, something it described as a preventive confiscation under the allegation that it had promoted what it described as clandestine immigration and criminal association, reports Efe.
"Pep came to see us, he even talked about going to the ship to help," said Oscar Camps, founder of the Proactiva Open Arms, a Spanish NGO devoted to search and rescue at sea.
"And it's not just him, some other athletes have also expressed an interest in coming along to lend a hand," Camps said in a radio interview.
Camps said the NGO is financed mainly through small contributions made through social networks and has also benefited from local government contributions.
He said that collaborations from different sources were vital to keeping the operation afloat.
"The Provincial Council of Barcelona also helps us, it is not the first time that Guardiola has taken an action of this kind," he added.
Camps, a former basketball player, went aboard the Open Arms in May 2017 for two weeks to help organise the rescue of refugees adrift in the Mediterranean.
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Kumaraswamy to visit Andrew Yule's tea gardens in Assam soon
Guwahati(PTI): Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Monday said he would soon visit tea gardens, owned by public sector enterprise Andrew Yule, to revive its estates as workers are facing immense hardship.
Kumaraswamy, the minister of steel and heavy industries, thanked Assam Industries Minister Bimal Borah for apprising him of various challenges being faced by the tea gardens and the need to support the management to alleviate suffering of workers.
"We are concerned about the economic challenges and hardship of the tea gardens owned by Andrew Yule Group in Assam and its impact on the wage earners," Kumaraswamy said at a press conference here.
The tea garden wage earners will also get a 20 per cent Durga Puja bonus, like workers of other gardens, he said.
Referring to his recent visit to the Cement Corporation of India Ltd factory at Bokajan in Karbi Anglong district, Kumaraswamy said there was a plan for the revival of the cement industry in the state by investing Rs 700 crore.
He also emphasised on the need for a cement manufacturing unit in the northeastern states.
On the current development of Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) policy utilisation in Assam, the union minister said more than Rs 2,000 crore would be invested for battery charging stations and nearly 70,000 such facilities will be set up across the country.
More than 18,000 e-buses will also be purchased to fulfil the goal of carbon emission reduction, Kumaraswamy added.
