India

Lucknow, May 17 (PTI) Hundreds of migrants were stopped on Sunday by police in border districts of Uttar Pradesh from travelling to their native places by unauthorised vehicles and on foot during the ongoing coronavirus lockdown, leading to protests in some areas.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had on Saturday directed district authorities not to allow migrants to travel by unsafe means and to ensure that they are transported in buses after 26 workers who were returning to their homes died in a truck-trailer collision in Auraiya.

Ahmedabad, May 18 (PTI) Nearly 100 migrant workers gathered on a busy road connecting IIM Ahmedabad with Vastrapur area here on Monday and pelted stones at police and people passing by during the lockdown, an official said.

A local claimed the migrant workers were demanding that they be allowed to go back to their native places.

Police lobbed teargas shells to disperse the rioters and detained several suspects, an official from the city police control room said.

New Delhi, May 18 (PTI) India is expected to join over 60 countries at a two-day crucial conference of the World Health Organisation in Geneva in pushing for an "impartial, independent and comprehensive" evaluation of the global response mechanism to the COVID-19 crisis as well as to find out the "zoonotic source" of the deadly infection.

New Delhi, May 18 (PTI) The home ministry has said no state or Union Territory will dilute the guidelines issued for the nationwide lockdown that will continue till May 31.

In a communication to the chief secretaries of the states and Union territories, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said the guidelines for the fourth phase of the lockdown were issued after taking the views of the states, following a video-conference held by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with chief ministers on May 11.

Rishikesh, May 18 (PTI) Two trucks carrying 95 migrants illegally from Maharashtra were seized in Rishikesh over the last two days.

One truck with 33 migrants from Pune was seized near Saptrishi barrier of Raiwala on Sunday while another carrying 62 migrants from Nasik was seized by police in Muni ki Reti police station area on Saturday, police officials said.

New Delhi, May 18 (PTI) A part of Krishi Bhawan building in Central Delhi has been sealed after an official in the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying has been tested positive for COVID-19.

The official works as a personal secretary in the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying.

Thiruvananthapuram, May 18 (PTI) The Kerala Government on Monday decided to allow public transport in a restricted manner with an increased travel fare to compensate the shortage of passengers due to implementation of social distancing norms in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Transport Minister A K Saseendran said initially public transport will be allowed only for intra-district services but hot spots will be avoided.

NEW DELHI, May 18 (NNN-PTI) – The India Meteorological Department (IMD) today warned that cyclone Amphan was likely to intensify into an extremely severe cyclonic storm.

“It is very likely to intensify further during the next six hours. It is very likely to move north-northeastwards and move fast across the northwest Bay of Bengal and cross West Bengal-Bangladesh coasts between Digha (West Bengal) and Hatiya Islands (Bangladesh), during the afternoon or evening of May 20, as a very severe cyclonic storm,” reads a statement issued by IMD.

Srinagar, May 17 (UMM): A Kashmiri separatist and an army soldier were killed in an alleged encounter with Indian security forces in a village in Doda district of Indian administered Kashmir, Indian officials said.

Jalandhar, May 17 (PTI) The Punjab government will run buses for migrant labourers wanting to go home in Uttar Pradesh, an official said on Sunday.

The buses will be run free of cost daily from Jalandhar and take migrant workers to 10 UP districts, Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma said in a release here.