Karnataka's APL cardholders to get subsidised ration

Move will benefit 3.5 million cardholders who will get rice and wheat at Rs 15 and Rs 10 a kg respectively, from April

Around 3.5 million above poverty line (APL) cardholders in Karnataka will get rice and wheat at subsidised rates from the next month.

Stating this, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said here on Sunday that the APL cardholders in the state would get rice and wheat at Rs 15 and Rs 10 a kg respectively, from April. There were 3.5 million APL cardholders in the state.

The government had taken the decision to supply free rice to those below poverty line (BPL) cardholders to ensure that the poor get two meals a day, he said asking people to make use of the welfare programmes launched by the government and improve their living standards.

The chief minister, who was laying the foundation stones for a series of works in Periyapatna taluk, said the government was also taking measures to see that there was no paucity of drinking water in the state to provide drinking water to all people this summer.

Siddaramaiah, who presented his 10th budget recently, expressed confidence that he would be able to present good budgets in the coming years too. He claimed that he had presented a comprehensive budget this time too keeping in mind the interests of the backward classes, dalits, minorities and women.

He announced that 120 tanks in Mysuru district would be filled to the brim after the completion of the ongoing works. Parts of Mysuru, Hunsur, Periyapatna and Nanjangud in Mysuru district were facing hardships for want of water. Even in Periyapatna, known as the Malnad of the district, the water table had depleted to 500 feet. Hence, steps were being taken to increase underground water level, including filling up of the tanks in the district.

So far, he said, 25 km of Harangi right bank canal had been modernised. The remaining 113 km length would be modernised at a cost of Rs 180 crore, which the government had already sanctioned. Further, Rs 15 crore would be released for modernisation of 27 kms of the left bank canal. It was with modernisation of reservoirs, farmers in the canal tail-end can be provided water for irrigation, Siddaramaiah said.

The Rs 78.62 crore worth of schemes for which he laid the foundation stones included an anganwadi building at Chennakaval village (Rs 10.95 lakh) and Rajiv Gandhi service centre (Rs 18 lakh), fire station and emergency services building at Periyapatna (Rs 2.22 crore), police station at Bettadapura village (Rs 1.1 crore), additional classrooms for government high schools (Rs 60 lakh), 11 kv permanent electrical transmission lines (Rs 23.50 crore), Santhepet commercial complex, slaughter house, and water tank (Rs 2.01 crore), and Kittur-Kampalapura road (Rs 6 crore).