Bangalore: 3% farm credit from Banks becomes a reality in Karnataka
From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

BANGALORE, MAY 22: FINALLY, Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa’s budgetary promise of ensuring agricultural loans to small and marginal farmers from nationalised banks at a subsidised 3% interest rate has become a reality in the state.

In his budget proposals for the year 2009-10 presented in the state legislative assembly in February, the chief minister, who is also handling the finance portfolio, had announced that the scheme for providing agricultural loans to small and marginal farmers at 3% interest rate available to loans disbursed by cooperative institutions would be extended to nationalised banks too from this year.

The state cabinet, which met on Friday morning, gave a formal approval for extension of the subsidised farm credit scheme to nationalised banks with effect from April 1 itself. However, there will be a cap of Rs 50,000 on the loan amount, according to rural development minister Shobha Karandlaje.

Briefing reporters after the cabinet meeting, Karandlaje said the cabinet decided to provide a grant of Rs 250 crore towards subsidy to the banks. While the banks would extend credit to farmers at 3%, the government would be reimbursing the difference from their normal interest rates of 7%.

The total subsidy burden on providing farm loans to farmers at 3% interest rate will be roughly Rs 1,000 crore for the entire year. The cooperative institutions had disbursed Rs 3,290.3 crore in 2008-09 for 13,17,983 farmers in the state and outgo was expected to  be Rs 3,500 crore during the current year.

While a total of about 13 lakh farmers were enjoying the low interest credit from the cooperative schemes, the decision of extending the schme to nationalised banks would benefit another 6 to 7 lakh farmers.

In addition to the decision on farm credit, the cabinet decided to extend the scheme of awarding cash incentives to meritorious male higher secondary students  belonging to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe communities. The government has already been providing cash incentives to girls opting for higher studies.

Cooperation Minister Laxman Savadi said elections to various cooperative bodies, including Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), would be held between May 23 to July 27 in different phases. It remains to be seen whether the BJP regime is able to wrest control of the KMF.

It may be recalled that KMF is under the control of JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda’s son and former minister H D Revanna. When the Yeddyurappa regime offered a Rs 2 per litre incentive to dairy farmers directly as part of the strategy to undermine the importance of Revanna, the KMF sought to indirectly challenge the government’s move by proposing to raise the selling price of milk by Rs 2 per litre to compensate for the increased cost of milk production. The BJP government, however, shot down the proposal and sought to put Revanna into trouble by ordering an audit inquiry into the KMF. The matter went to High Court, which finally permitted the government’s to go ahead with the audit.

Yeddyurappa to build 250 toll roads

BANGALORE, May 22: TAKING a leaf from the six-year BJP-led NDA regime at the Centre when former prime minister A B Vajpayee embarked on building a massive nationwide road network programme including the ambitious golden quadrilateral, east-west and north-south corridor projects throughout the country, chief minister B S Yeddyurappa’s BJP regime in Karnataka has decided to develop over 250 state highways and major district roads through public-private-partnership model.

The road users, however, will be required to pay toll charges which will be different for two-land and four-lane roads. But the toll charges will be levied only on the new roads to be built and will not apply to the existing roads. Toll rates would be levied on all roads on which more than 10,000 vehicles ply per day.

The state cabinet, which considered the entire issue at its meeting presided by chief minister B S Yeddyurappa,  fixed the toll rates for different categories of motor vehicles.

According to rural development and panchayat raj minister Shobha Karandlaje, who briefed reporters after the cabinet meeting, said the basic toll rate per kilometre on a four-lane road for cars, jeeps, light motor vehicles and vans would be 65 paise and 50  paise for two-lane roads.

Mini buses and mini goods vehicles will have to pay Rs 1.05 per km for using four-lane roads and 75 paise for two-lane roads. The toll would be Rs 2.20 for buses and trucks on four-lane roads and Rs 1.50 on two-lane roads. Heavy construction machinery vehicles would be charged Rs 3.45 per km on four-lane roads and Rs 2.25 on two-lane
roads.

However, toll will not be collected on existing roads. Agricultural non-transport vehicles, two and three-wheelers and local short-distance vehicles used only for passenger transport would be exempted from payment of toll in the new roads being built under the PPP model. Service roads would be provided for local traffic.

It may be recalled that the Government had  decided at an investors’ meeting held in January to develop a Core Road Network (CRN) of 66,000 kms at an estimated cost of Rs 1,77,000 crore under the public-private partnership  (PPP) model in the next six years of 2009-15. All these roads would be toll roads, and toll booths would be established every 50 km. The toll would be based on the rate fixed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

In the first phase, it was decided to upgrade 10,000 kms of state highways and major district roads (MDRs) apart from 12,600 km of village roads in the first phase at an estimated cost Rs 31,400 crore.

About 40,000 kms of roads will be developed in the second phase at an estimated cost of Rs 1.08 lakh crore and 16,000 km in the third phase with an investment of Rs 36,800 crore.

The 66,000-km CRN would connect Bangalore with other IT hubs such as Mysore, Hassan, Davangere, Hubli, Dharwad, and Mangalore. The objective of the CRN was to promote industrial and urban development and integrate economically backward and remote areas, according to senior government officials. The CRN would be an all-weather, smooth road network with a minimum two-lane carriageway and feeder roads and four to six lanes near urban settlements.The roads would be developed under various PPP models such as build operate, transfer; design, build, operate, transfer and viability gap funding. The developer would be given one acre of land for every five km of road developed for business activities. Land acquisition and development would be undertaken by private entrepreneurs, the chief minister said.

A state-level task force headed by the chief minister had been constituted to monitor the progress of roads, and committees headed by the deputy commissioners had been constituted for fixation of compensation rates for land acquired for roads, Yeddyurappa said adding: The state had a road network of nearly 2.09 lakh kms comprising of 3,978 kms of national highways, 20,738 kms of state highways, 37,973 kms of district roads and 1,47,212 kms of village roads.