Daily News Dose: No show of govt staff on Day 2 of general strike | Mar 29, 2022

Hello listener, this is your daily dose of news from Onmanorama. I'm your host, Vishnu, and these are the major news stories of the day:

1) General strike: No show of govt employees at Secretariat on Day 2, 15 teachers locked inside school in Kollam

2) Petrol crosses Rs 100 in Delhi after 80 paise hike, diesel up by 70 paise

3) Actress assault case: Police grill Dileep in Balachandra Kumar's presence

4) LDF to discuss auto, taxi fare hike tomorrow

5) Crisis-hit Sri Lanks in talks with India for another 1.5 billion dollars credit line

Let’s get into the details.

1) The two-day long nationwide general strike called by the Joint Council of Trade Unions continued on Tuesday. The strike will last till midnight. Over the last two days, Kerala has witnessed sporadic incidents of violence across the state in connection with the strike. In Kollam, protesters locked 15 teachers inside a govt school in Chithara for coming to work. A petrol pump was forcefully shut at Ulloor in Thiruvananthapuram. However, a CPM-governed cooperative bank was allowed to function in Thrissur with its shutters closed. Agitators gathered in front of Lulu Mall in Thiruvananthapuram and blocked the entrance for both customers and employees. Devikulam MLA A Raja was injured in a tussle between the police and the protesters in Munnar. He has been admitted to the general hospital there. In Kozhikode, shops were forcefully shut in Karanthoor, Kunnamangalam and Andikaadu areas. The KSRTC too refrained from plying through its regular routes. The few buses that plied were halted by protesters and passengers were asked to de-board. Despite the dies-non order, only 176 employees out of the 4,824 attended work at the Secretariat on Tuesday.

2) The price of petrol on Tuesday crossed the Rs 100 mark after rates were hiked by 80 paise a litre. Diesel prices have also been increased by 70 paise. Petrol in Delhi now costs Rs 100.21 per litre, while diesel costs Rs 91.47, according to a price notification of state fuel retailers. In Kerala, the price of petrol rose by 87 paise and diesel saw an increase of 74 paise. In Kochi, petrol now costs Rs 109.51 and diesel Rs 96.48 per litre. Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending upon the incidence of local taxation.

3) In a crucial move in the investigation of the 2017 actress assault case, Kerala police interrogated Dileep in the presence of his estranged friend Balachandra Kumar, who emerged as a crucial witness in the final stage of the trial. Balachandra Kumar was summoned to the Aluva Police Club by the Crime Branch team on the second day of questioning Dileep, who has been accused of plotting the crime. The police commenced further investigation into the sensational crime based on the statements given by Balachandra Kumar, who claimed to have witnessed Dileep watching the visuals of the crime on his phone at his Aluva home. Kumar also alleged that Dileep, along with his close relatives and friends, had planned to harm the investigators who apprehended him in 2017. Meanwhile, the High Court on Tuesday denied bail to Pulsar Suni, the prime accused in the actress assault case. Justice P V Kunhikrishnan dismissed his plea stating it cannot be granted at this stage of the case.

4) The Left Democratic Front will on Wednesday meet to discuss a possible hike in autorickshaw, taxi and bus ticket fares. The transport department has submitted a report based on the recommendations made by the Ramachandran Committee, to the chief minister. It has been recommended to hike the minimum auto charge to Rs 30 from Rs the current Rs 25. For taxis, the minimum charge is for 5 kilometres is Rs 175, which has been recommended to be to hiked to Rs 225. The report has also suggested increasing the price for every additional kilometre. 

5) Sri Lanka has sought an additional credit line of 1.5bn dollars from Indian to import essentials, the island nation's central bank governor said on Monday, amid its worst economic crisis in decades. The country of 22 million is struggling to pay for essential imports after a 70% drop in foreign exchange reserves in two years led to a currency devaluation and efforts to seek help from global lenders. The new line is on top of the one billion dollar support extended by India to help pay for critical imports when Sri Lankan Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa travelled to New Delhi earlier this month. A source briefed on the matter told Reuters of New Delhi's indication to meet the request for the new line. However, the Foreign Ministry dd not respond to a request seeking comment.

Now, let’s check out the covid update:

6) India logged 1,259 new Covid cases on Tuesday, pushing the overall tally to  4,30,21,982, while the active cases dipped to 15,378.

The death toll climbed to 5,21,070 with 35 more fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry.

While the daily positivity rate was 0.22%, the weekly positivity rate stood at 0.25%.

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