While announcing the sanctioning of a government engineering college for Mysuru which will start from the next academic year, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said here on Saturday that care would be taken to develop the heritage city in a cautious manner. This will be done to retain the character of the city.
Inaugurating works of around Rs 200 crore relating to various departments, including construction of a new building for the Maharani's College of Commerce and Business Management at Paduvarahalli, Siddaramaiah referred to the 700-odd heritage structures in the city.
He added that it was the responsibility of the Mysuru City Corporation, Mysuru Urban Development Authority, state government and public to protect it and the works taken up by them would not affect its planned growth.
His vision was that Mysuru, which is witnessing a steady growth, should not grow in a haphazard manner like Bengaluru and many other cities. Steps would be taken to ensure that whatever development is undertaken, it would not affect the city's nature adversely.
Infrastructure facilities like good roads, underground drainage, traffic management and development of new layouts, should have a vision for the next 50 years. Bearing this in mind, Mysuru would be given a new makeover, the chief minister said.
Although Mysuru had a number of educational institutions, it lacked a government engineering college and this was brought to his notice by Narasimharaja MLA Tanvir Sait, he added.
The new Maharani's College building, to be completed in about two years, will cost Rs 45 crore and the hostel Rs 33.6 crore.
The other works launched included the road from Ramaswamy Circle to Banni Mantap via Basaveswara Circle, Hardinge Cirlce, K R Circle, MRC Circle and Highway Circle at Rs 50 crore, construction of a VIP guest house for Rs 6.75 crore at the Jaladarshini Guest House and its renovated building for Rs 1.8 crore and a Rs 4.95 crore tower on the Ambedkar Statue at Town Hall premises.
He also inaugurated the new building of the Chamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts (CAVA), which is presently functioning from the century-old Chamarajendra Technical Institute building. The first phase of the building is built at Rs 5 crore on a 4.4-acre land. The second phase is proposed at Rs 13 crore.
The CM, who arrived in the city nearly four hours behind schedule, due to a snag to his the helicopter, also launched 'Prachya-Pragne' (Archaeology-awareness) programme of the Department of Archaeology, Museums and Heritage to create awareness on the architectural and historical heritage of Karnataka to students across the state.
The year-long programme is aimed at generating awareness and interest among around 600,000 students of 13,000 high schools on the architectural and cultural heritage of the state.
Siddaramaiah was to inaugurate the silver jubilee of the Mysuru Police Commissionerate In his absence, District incharge Minister V Sreenivasa Prasad inaugurated the jubilee and also released 25 fully-equipped 'Garuda' police jeeps. He lauded the service of the Commissionerate during the 25 years. He recalled 16 police commissioners had served the city since 1989.
