Karnataka has notified 10-hour work shift per day, up from eight hours before, for a period of three months.

The notification was issued by the State Labour Department under Section 5 of the Factories Act that allows the it to make changes in “emergency” situations.

“In an exercise of powers conferred under Section 5 of Factories Act, 1948, the Government of Karnataka is pleased to order that all the factories registered under the Act shall be exempted from the provisions of Section 51 (weekly hours) and Section 54 (daily hours),” the government notification read.

It further said that no adult worker would be allowed or required to work in a factory for over 10 hours a day or 60 hours a week, “The provisions of Section 59 regarding overtime wages shall continue to be applicable without any change,” the notification said.

Nine trade unions under the umbrella of Joint Committee of Trade Unions (JCTU) have opposed the plan to to increase working hours and amendments to labour laws.

The JCTU, comprising of INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, AICCTU, TUCC, HMKP and GATWU, had alleged that under the pretext of the pandemic and the lockdown, employer’s bodies lobbied with the State government to increase the working hours to 12 hours per day (and 72 hours per week). “Employers are also pushing for other anti-worker amendments such as permitting industries with less than 300 workers to announce lay-off, termination and closure without prior permission and exemption for contract labour registration,” it alleged.

Flight Operations

With heightened safety procedures, the Kempegowda International Airport (KIAB or BLR Airport) resumed flights operations from Monday. The airport with contactless check-in experience, as on 5 p.m., had registered a total of 74 Air Traffic Movements (ATM), including 43 departures and 31 arrivals.

The first flight to depart from BLR Airport was Air Asia to Ranchi at 5:15 am and the first arrival was Indigo from Chennai at 7:35 am. Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), the operator of BLR Airport, said that it will work closely with various government departments to ensure that air passengers adhere to the new Quarantine Policy.

New Cases

On Monday, Karnataka reported 93 new positive cases, taking the tally to 1,431 cases in the State. Total discharges is 705, total death 46 (2 non-Covid-19 cause).

New cases reported had travel history to Maharastra, Tamil Nadu, Uttara Pradesh, Delhi, Muscat, UAE and UK.

The State also saw two deaths. Patient No-1686 (a 55 years female patient resident of Bengaluru Rural diagnosed as SARI was admitted to hospital on May 19 and died due to ARDS on May 24). Patient No-2175 (a 43 years male patient resident of Dakshina Kannada known case of cirrhosis of liver got admitted to designated hospital Dakshina Kannada on May 23 and died on the same day. The lab report confirmed positive for Covid-19 on May 25.)

The 93 new cases reported are from: Bengaluru Urban with 8 cases, Mandya with 2 cases, Kalaburgi with 16 cases, Belagavi with 1 case, Yadgir with 15 cases, Udupi with 32 cases, Hassan, Vijayapura and Uttara Kannada with 1 case each, Dakshina Kannada with 4 cases, Dharwad with 4 cases, Ballari with 3 cases, Tumkuru with 1 case, Kolar with 2 cases, and Ramanagara with 1 case.