Several proposals regarding construction of rural roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) from Karnataka pending before the rural development ministry will soon be cleared. Union Minister for rural development Jairam Ramesh has promised to expedite the proposals favourably.
Once cleared, Karnataka would get Rs 1400 crore for repair of nearly 4,300 km of rural roads.
The state had been pressing the Centre for funds to repair these roads under Phase 3 but the Centre had been unresponsive. This forced Karnataka rural development minister Jagadish Shettar to announce that the state government would take up the repair work under the Chief Minister’s Gram Sadak Yojana (CMGSY).
Ramesh’s assurance came when Dharwad MP Prahlad Joshi met him in New Delhi recently and explained to him about the need to clear the pending proposals.
Joshi also discussed several other proposals sent by the rural development and panchayat raj ministry in Karnataka. The state has sought clearance for construction of 5,000 km rural roads at a cost of Rs 1,982 crore in collaboration with Japan among others.
The move by the Centre to hasten the development of highways in state comes a month after chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda requested road transport and highways minister CP Joshi to consider extending the proposed Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor up to Belgaum or Mangalore.
In a letter addressed to Joshi recently, Gowda said it was learnt that the ministry was keen on developing Chennai-Bangalore industrial corridor on the lines of Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor.
But the state government was of the view that the proposed Chennai-Bangalore industrial corridor would not be of much use to Karnataka if it was 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 up to Belgaum or up to Mangalore,” he said.
AIRPORT
The work on upgrading Hubli airport to international level would be completed in the next two years, according to Airports Authority of India chairman VP Agarwal. Once the works are completed the airport will be ready to facilitate operation of Airbus and other big aircraft.
The Karnataka government has acquired additional 600 acres around the airport in Hubli and handed it over to AAI for development of airport. 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.
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.
