Karnataka bandh call receives lukewarm response

Karnataka bandh called by Kannada organisations on Saturday against the formation of the Maratha Development Corporation received lukewarm response in the State. The police detained Karnataka Rakshana Vedike President Narayana Gowda along with other protesters when they were heading towards the Chief Minister’s residence.Kannada Chaluvali President Vatal Nagaraj was detained at Town Hall in Bengaluru. The bandh had no impact on normal life as city buses, autos and metro services were functioning as usual. Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai has said that people from the State have rejected the bandh call given by Kannada organisations. When asked about the permission to the new year eve celebrations on Brigade road in Bengaluru, he said, as per Covid-19 protocol, decision has to be taken.Bommai further added that he and Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar will hold talks with Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa regarding night curfew and prevention of crowds at public places during new year's eve celebrations.

-The charges for Covid-19 Rapid Antigen Test for Inter Island passengers travelling via Helicopter, Ship or by road has been reduced from Rs 500 to 200 in Andaman and Nicobar islands. However, the incoming passengers from mainland at Port Blair airport will continue to pay Rs 500 for the test. Moreover, the negative test report will now be valid for three days. This will come into force from 7th December. The decision is taken considering the downfall in the number of positive cases in the islands. It is to mention that all passengers moving from one island to another have to go for Rapid Antigen Test before starting their journey. All the passengers coming from mainland are also being tested at Port Blair Airport. The decision will provide relief to all inter island passengers and coming tourists as well. Prior to this, the inter islands ferry services have also been extended. The Directorate of Shipping Services is planning to resume all the shipping services as pre-COVID-19 period depending upon the situation.

-Ahmedabad based Zydus Cadila Pharmaceuticals has announced that the company has received an approval from the Drugs Controller General of India -DCGI to begin the phase-III clinical trials with its biological therapy Pegylated Interferon alpha-2b (PegiHep) in Covid-19 patients.PegiHep is an approved drug and is being re-purposed for the treatment of Covid-19. According to sources, the trials will be conducted on 250 patients across 25 centres in India during this month. The Ahmedabad-based healthcare major had completed the phase-2 clinical trial last month. The second phase trials indicated that this biological drug had a beneficial impact on the patient suffering from moderate Covid-19 disease by reducing their viral load. According to sources, a single dose therapy will improve compliance and make it highly affordable for patients. Apart from this, Zydus has also completed the phase-II human clinical trials of its vaccine candidate- ZyCov-D for Covid-19 and its results are currently analysed.

-In order to enhance passenger convenience for the people of Kolkata, the Kolkata Metro has decided to run additional services and extend timings of its services from Monday. Metro Railway, Kolkata will run 204 daily services instead of 190 services from Monday to Saturday. In a tweet, Minister of Railways  Piyush Goyal has commended Kolkata Metro for extending its services. According to the Ministry of Railways, the first service will start from both ends from Dum Dum and Kavi Subhash at 7 AM instead of 8 AM and from Noapara at 7.09 AM instead of 8.09 AM. It said, from Monday onwards, the last service will leave Kavi Subhash and Dum Dum at  9.30 PM instead of 9 PM and from Noapara at 9.25 PM instead of 08.55 PM. Services will be available every 7 minutes during morning and evening peak hours. The Ministry said, for senior citizens, ladies and children below 15 years, e-pass will not be required throughout the day. For all other passengers, e-pass will not be required between 7 AM to 8.30 AM in the morning and 8 PM onwards in the evening. No token will be issued and only Smart Cards shall be used.

-An estimated 61.10 percent and 49.25 percent voter turnout was recorded in the third phase of bypolls to vacant panch and sarpanch seats in Jammu and Kashmir, respectively, State Election Commissioner K K Sharma said on Saturday.The third phase of the panchayat bypolls was held along with the District Development Council (DDC) elections on Friday.The bypolls for panch vacant seats were held in 327 constituencies in the third phase.A total of 31,844 electors (including 16,600 males and 15,244 females), out of 52,118, exercised their right to franchise in the 3rd phase of panch by-elections which began at 7 am and ended at 2 pm, Sharma said. He said the Jammu division recorded 79.47 percent and the Kashmir division recorded 59.63 percent voter turnout during the third phase of panch by-elections.