Daily News Dose: Bus, auto, taxi fares go up from today | May 1, 2022

Hello, 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. PC George granted bail over hate speech; blames CM Pinarayi Vijayan for arrest

2. #MeToo accused Vijay Babu holed up in Dubai guest-house of Indian industrialist, Kerala Police alerts Interpol

3. Bus, auto, taxi fares go up from today

4. India reports 3,324 new COVID cases, 40 deaths

5. 18-year-old nurse found hanging on first day at work in UP's Unnao; family alleges rape, murder

Let's get into the details:

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1. Former Poonjar MLA P C George, who was taken into custody by the Thiruvananthapuram Fort police for making adverse remarks against the Muslim community at a Hindu event on Friday, was granted bail on Sunday.

The senior politician was granted bail based on the condition that he would not influence witnesses or make any more controversial statements.

George, meanwhile, slammed Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for his arrest. While coming out of the magistrate's house at Vanchiyoor here, George said that he stood by what he had said earlier. 

George, however, withdrew his controversial statement against NRI business baron and LuLu Group Chairman MA Yusuff Ali. "My arrest was Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's Eid gift to terrorists," George, who was arrested for hate speech, said.

He accused Pinarayi Vijayan and Congress of teaming up to appease extremists. He asserted that what he did was to make people aware about nefarious practices which he knew.

The leader who was taken into custody from his Erattupetta residence was brought to the Armed Reserve Police Camp at Nandavanam on Sunday morning. 

George's arrest was registered under section IPC 153 a. After medical examination, the former legislator was presented before the magistrate of the district court. As the court was closed the accused was brought to the latter's house.

In the remand application, police requested the court to grant George's custody for 14 days, but the magistrate turned it down and granted bail.

George spoke with the intention of inciting communal violence and a bail would prevent the smooth progress of the probe, the application stated.

Earlier, the police convoy with George was waylaid by BJP supporters at Vattapara on the outkirts of Thiruvananthapuram before they came forward to felicitate George who was seated in the car.

The convoy was also accosted by DYFI activists at Nalanchira, a little further south. They shouted slogans denouncing him and waved black flags.

It was under state police chief Anil Kant's direction that Fort police registered a case against the leader.

Youth League state general secretary P K Firos had on Saturday lodged a complaint with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Anil Kant against George for insulting the community.

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2. The Kerala Police have contacted the Interpol to extradite filmmaker and actor Vijay Babu to India from Dubai, where he is hiding to evade arrest in a sexual harassment case filed in Kochi. The official procedures in this regard were launched through the Crime Branch, which is the nodal agency of the Interpol in the state.

Meanwhile, the police are also making moves to impound Babu’s passport after realizing that the filmmaker is unlikely to surrender before the authorities. During its probe, the police have already traced Babu’s hideout in Dubai. “He is now staying in the guest house of an Indian industrialist there,” said a police officer. 

On Saturday, the police continued their search at Babu’s apartment in Kochi and took statements from some witnesses. “We have also taken steps to prevent Babu from influencing the witnesses,” said C H Nagaraju, the City Police Commissioner of Kochi.

Vijay Babu was accused by a young actress of sexual assault in a MeToo revelation through Facebook. He had later come on Facebook Live to talk about the allegation, calling him the real victim and revealing the complainant's name in the process.

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3. Public commute has become dearer in Kerala. The recently announced hike in bus, autorickshaw and taxi fares has taken effect from Sunday.

Kerala government had recently given the nod to hike the fares in view of soaring fuel prices in the country. The protests by private bus owners also hastened this decision.

With this, the minimum charge on bus has been revised to Rs 10 from the earlier Rs 8 for 2.5 km. For each additional kilometre, Re 1 will be charged instead of 90 paise.

However, for fast passenger services, the new minimum fare is Rs 15, an increase of Re 1. 

There are revisions with regard to cess levied as well. For tickets costing up to Rs 25, the cess levied is Re 1.

While for tickets costing up to Rs 40, Rs 80 and Rs 100, the cess is Rs 2, Rs 4 and Rs 5 respectively.

Meanwhile, the minimum fare for an autorickshaw ride has been increased to Rs 30 for 1.5 km. Each kilometre thereafter will cost you Rs 15.

The waiting charge of Rs 10 for 15 minutes remains the same.

Also, the minimum charge for taxis below 1500cc has been increased from Rs 175 to Rs 210 and the kilometre charge from Rs 15 to Rs 18. For taxis exceeding 1500 cc, the minimum charge has been raised from Rs 200 to Rs 240 and the kilometre fare from Rs 17 to Rs 20.

The waiting charge remains at Rs 50 per hour and a maximum of Rs 500 per day.

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4. A total of 3,324 coronavirus infections were reported on Sunday, taking the COVID-19 case tally to 4,30,79,188, while the number of active cases increased to 19,092, according to data updated by the Union health ministry.

The death toll has climbed to 5,23,843 with 40 fatalities. An increase of 403 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at  0.71 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 0.68 per cent. The 40 new fatalities included 36 from Kerala, two from Karnataka and one each from Delhi and Maharashtra. The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

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5. A 18-year-old nurse was found hanging from a pillar of a nursing home in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh on the first day at work, with her family alleging that she was raped and killed.

Police, however, said the post-mortem examination ruled out rape.

The body of the nurse was found hanging at New Jeevan Nursing Home in the Bangarmau area of the district on Saturday, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Sashi Shekhar Singh told PTI on Sunday. The nurse was on night shift on the first day of her job.

In a complaint filed with the police, the mother of the deceased has alleged that her daughter was raped and killed.

The mother also alleged that the managers of the nursing home were behind the incident.

Based on the complaint, an FIR has been registered against three people under relevant sections of the IPC.

"We are conducting investigation and the accused behind the incident will soon be put behind bars," the police officer said.

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That brings us to the end of this episode. We at Onmanorama would like to wish our listeners Eid Mubarak. Be sure to come back tomorrow. As always, thanks for listening to Daily News Dose.