From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore

Bangalore, Nov 12: The State Government has sanctioned 100 industrial training institutes to various districts and they will commence functioning from the next academic year (2014-15).

In the first phase, the Government has identified locations for the establishment of 92 ITIs, including seven would come up in Mysore district.

The 100 new ITIs are being established at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore in the coming academic year, Karnataka’s Labour Minister P T Parameshwar Naik told reporters in Bangalore on Tuesday.

Land has been identified for 92 of those proposed ITIs which require a staff strength in the range of 1,500 to 2,000.

The State Government would partly fund the project cost, the minister said, adding that the Centre would extend assistance for purchase of equipment for ITIs. Loans would also be raised from NABARD.

He said Rs 900 crore would be spent on building professional schools and housing complexes for the benefit of construction workers and their family members, as also a Construction academy near Doddaballapura for which 20 acres of land has already been identified.

This fund would be raised from the one per cent building and construction workers cess which has now topped more than Rs 1,835 crore, the Minister said.

The State Government would provide a Rs 30,000 medical cover per annum to 43 lakh BPL ration-card holders from December, in the first phase, whereby the beneficiaries are entitled for treatment in 640 empanelled hospitals, the Minister said.

A sum of Rs 10 crore would be spent on each institute, including development of infrastructure. Depending on admission of students to various trades, on an average about 15 faculty would be recruited to each institute, Naik.

Naik, however, denied charges that there was ``discrimination” against the assembly constituencies represented by opposition party legislators in identifying the places for setting up the ITIs.

The decision to set up 100 new ITIs was taken up based on recommendations of legislators.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had recommended five institutes for the Mysore district while Minister for Higher Education and Tourism R V Deshpande recommended two for Uttara Karnataka and Naik himself recommended nine institutes, including eight to the Bellary district.

Naik happens to be the district-charge minister for Bellary.

Of 92 institutes, a majority of them, were sanctioned based on the recommendations of the ruling Congress MLAs. Only two MLCs had recommended institutes and they are Minister for Information Technology and Biotechnology S R Patil and Chairman of the State Legislative Council D H Shankaramurthy.

Naik said the department sanctioned the institutes to various backward taluks based on the recommendations of the legislators.

Recommendations of MLAs of opposition parties have also been taken into consideration, he said.

In the second phase, locations would be identified to set up eight more institutes.