Daily News Dose: PM Modi recalls Ahmedabad blasts | Feb 20, 2022

Hello listeners, this is your daily dose of news from Onmanorama. I'm your host, Gopika KP.

1) A new survey has been initiated to identify a longer stretch of land to build the runway for the proposed Sabarimala Airport at Cheruvally Estate in the Kottayam district of Kerala. The move follows a recent meeting convened by V Thulasidas, special officer for the airport project, which expressed doubts over the 2.7-km long stretch suggested for the runway in the preliminary report for the project. It was felt that constructing an airport with a 2.7-km-long runway would affect the future development of Sabarimala Airport.

2) The indefinite strike waged by the Left trade unions outside the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) headquarters here in protest against many decisions of Chairman B Ashok came to an
end on Saturday after the success of conciliatory talks held at the initiative of Electricity Minister K Krishnan Kutty. Leave will be granted for the strike period. There will be no disciplinary
action against the employees who went on strike.

3) Nearly two years after they were forced to close on account of the coronavirus pandemic, schools in Kerala are ready to welcome students again on Monday. Elaborate preparations are already underway at schools to welcome students including a mega cleaning and disinfection drive.

4) Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao today met his Maharashtra counterpart Uddhav Thackeray as part of efforts to bring together various like-minded parties against the BJP at the national level. Following an invitation from Thackeray, Rao arrived at 'Varsha', the official residence of Maharashtra CM. Thackeray, who is also president of the Shiv Sena, recently spoke to Rao over phone and invited him to Mumbai. Shiv Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' today said the meeting will expedite the process of political unity at the national level against the BJP.

5) Targeting rival parties at an election rally in Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi recalled the Ahmedabad bomb blasts and said some parties are sympathetic to such terrorists and accused the erstwhile Samajwadi Party government of seeking withdrawal of cases against those involved in terror attacks in the state. Addressing the BJP rally in Hardoi, PM Modi said the people here have seen how the Samajwadi Party when in government gave a free hand to those using 'katta' (country-made pistols) and its cadres.

6) Daily new COVID-19 cases in India fell below 20,000 after 51 days, taking the total virus tally to 4.28 crore, while the active cases dipped to 2,24,187. A total of 19,968 cases have been reported in a day while the death toll climbed to 5,11,903 with 673 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

That brings us to the end of this episode! Be sure to come back tomorrow. As always, thanks for listening to Daily News Dose.