Several proposals regarding construction of rural roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) from Karnatak pending before the Union ministry of rural development will soon be cleared. Union Minister for rural development Jairam Ramesh has promised to expedite the proposals favourably.
When the proposals are cleared Karnataka would get Rs 1400 crore for repair of nearly 4300 km of rural roads that have been constructed under PMGSY and now need repair.
The state had been pressing the Centre for funds to repair these roads under phase 3 but the Centre had been unresponsive. This had forced Karnataka rural development minister Jagadish Shettar to announce that the state government would take up the repair work under Chief Minister’s Gram Sadak Yojana (CMGSY).
Jairam Ramesh’s assurance came when Dharwad MP Prahlad Joshi met him at his office in New Delhi on Saturday and explained to him about the need to clear the pending proposals. Ramesh assured that he would take the MPs from Karnataka into confidence and help the state with necessary funds.
Prahlad Joshi also discussed about clearing several other proposals sent by the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj ministry in Karnataka. The state has sought clearance for construction of 5000 km rural roads at a cost of Rs 1982 crore in collaboration with Japan and construction of 76 CDs at a cost of Rs 52 crore among others.
This move by the Centre to hasten the development of highways in state comes a month after Karnataka CM D V Sadananda Gowda requested Road Transport and Highways Minister C P Joshi to consider extending the proposed Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor upto Belgaum or Mangalore.
In a letter addressed to Joshi recently, Gowda said it is learnt that the Ministry was keen on developing Chennai-Bangalore industrial corridor on the lines of Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor.
But the State Government is of the view that the proposed Chennai-Bangalore industrial corridor would not be of much use to Karnataka if it is not extended further from Bangalore to Belgaum or to Mangalore, he said.
“I, therefore request you to consider the development of Chennai-Bangalore industrial corridor on the lines of Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor and extend it further upto Belgaum or up to Mangalore”, he had said.
AIRPORT:
The work on upgrading Hubli airport to international level would be completed in the next two years according to Airport Authority of India chairman V P Agarwal. Once the works are completed the airport will be ready to facilitate operation of airbuses and other big aircrafts.
The Karnataka government has acquired additional 600 acres of land around the airport in Hubli and handed it over to AAI for development of airport.
Dharwad MP Prahlad Joshi met Agarwal at New Delhi last week and urged him to complete the work at the earliest. Responding to Joshi’s request, Agarwal said the AAI had taken up the work at a cost of Rs 160 crore and the work would be expedited.
Already the AAI has fenced the area spending Rs 8 crore. Other works like construction of runway, control tower, new lounge, terminal, survey of obstruction and soil testing would be completed soon.
At the first stage the work on infrastructure like voice communication system (VCS), digital airport information service, automation of air traffic services, Doppler Very High Frequency Omni RangeôDistance Measuring Equipment (DVOR/DME) is on the verge of completion according to Agarwal.
The Karnataka government in the recent past has been increasing its focus on upgrading highways in the state and as part of this effort had approved a proposal to upgrade 3,411 km of state highways with a total investment of Rs 2,150 crore over the next three years. Of the cost, the loan component from the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank is Rs 1,565 crore and Rs 585 crore, respectively.
