Shettar's Reply to Yeddy Challenge: Rs 5,400 Crore Package for Gulbarga

From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore

Bangalore, Oct 18: Even as BJP's Lingayat strongman and former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa is getting ready to launch his own regional party shortly to confront the ruling party in the ensuing Karnataka assembly polls, the Jagadish Shettar regime has unveiled its own plans to face the challenge by offering special financial package to the Hyderabad-Karnataka region by clearing different projects with a total outlay of Rs 5,400 crore.

The Rs 5,400 crore package for the Hyderabad-Karnataka region cleared at the Gulbarga cabinet meeting, which incidentally is the fourth such exercise – the first by the then Congress chief minister R Gundu Rao and the other three by Yeddyurappa, is being described as the Dasara festival bumper for the region, which is expected to get yet another boost with the Congress-led UPA regime's decision to accord special status under Article 371 of the Constitution.

The Jagadish Shettar, which held a special cabinet meeting in the heart of the Hyderabad-Karnataka region at Gulbarga on Thursday, chose to ensure that the former chief minister's hold over the region was weakened by the gesture of announcing approval for as many as 60 proposals.

Unlike the normal practice of entrusting the task of briefing reporters on the cabinet decisions to any of the Cabinet ministers, Shettar preferred to address the newsmen himself and declared that a cabinet sub-committee was being constituted to study the facilities available to other similar regions in the country which have been included in the special category under Article 371. A team of officials would also be deputed to those regions so as to prepare similar framework for the Hyderabad-Karnataka region, he said.

Incidentally, the Chief Minister announced that a special cabinet meeting will be held at the newly built Suvarna Soudha in Belgaum, which was recently inaugurated by President Pranab Mukherjee, and also come out plans and programmes for the development of the entire region.  The Belgaum cabinet meeting would decide the time-shedule for the winter session of the State legislature to be held in the Suvarna Soudha, he said.

The Jagadish Shettar cabinet's decision to hold special cabinet meetings in Gulbarga and Belgaum, covering two of the prominent regions in northern Karnataka that is considered to be the stronghold of the former chief minister, is considered as the ruling party's strategy to neutralize and even weaken Yeddyurappa's hold.

Shettar said the Cabinet gave the green signal for construction of additional houses under the Basava Housing Scheme at a cost of Rs 1000 crore through the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Housing Corporation, for which the government would provide guarantee for raising the necessary funds from financial institutions;  the Narayanapur left bank canal, modernization and expansion of canal network in the Upper Krishna Project at a cost of Rs 4,085 crore; sanction of Rs 408 crore for the 8 Industrial Area Development regions in the Gulbarga revenue division; approval for continuous drinking water supply facility under the North Karnataka Zonal Investment Programme at a cost of Rs 197.71 crore; approval to the Sharanabasava Vidyavardhaka Sangha for starting the Sharanabasava Private University in Gulbarga; recommendation to the Centre for starting the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Raichur  and implementation of the recommendations of the Dr D M Nanjundappa panel on removal of regional imbalances pertaining to the region.

In addition, all cases registered under 20 different incidents pertaining to the agitations on grant of special status to the Hyderabad-Karnataka region would be withdrawn, the chief minister said.

Among the other decisions, the chief minister said 7 new government medical colleges will be established in Koppal, Gadag, Haveri, Chitradurga, Chamarajanagara, Kodagu and Tunkur during the academic year 2013-14 with an outlay of Rs 35 crore each and sanction of Rs 5 crore each for the proposed colleges during the first year.