K'taka Govt to announce schemes for BPL families on Aug 15

Bangalore, Aug 4: The Karnataka Government will announce on August 15, a package of new schemes for people living below the poverty line, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said today.

Talking to newspersons here on the occasion of completing six months in office, he said one such scheme related to construction of one lakh houses through a vertical flat system and distribution of 50,000 sites in the city, 500 houses in each of the taluks and 1,000 houses in each district. These were besides the construction of three lakh houses as already mentioned in the budget, he added.

Mr Kumaraswamy dismissed the charges levelled by the Opposition leaders that the achievement of the coalition government was nothing and said various schemes such as lending agriculture loan at four per cent interest was being implemented and distribution of bicycles to poor girl students was all set to be launched. The Government had earmarked Rs 50 crore for celebrating the golden jubilee of the State and various programmes such as village developement, construction of culture complex and Kannada Bhavans would be taken up. The World Kannada Conference would be held in Belgaum, he added.

Allaying fears about the Metro Rail project for the city, he said it would be implemented and the Mono Rail project would be taken up to supplement it. The Government had also accepted the recommendations of the Justice Shivshankar Bhat Committee with regard to making alterations in the Metro Rail project.

Earlier, talking to newspersons separately at his residence, Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said the Government had managed the finances well without resorting to overdraft facility. Asserting that the State's finances were in a good position, he said the Centre had sanctioned an incentive of Rs 600 crore to the State for its prudent fiscal management. He agreed with a questioner that former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had managed the finances well and the incentive was given in recognition of the performance. ''We are in number one position in fiscal management in the country,'' he said, adding that over and above the budget estimates, an additional revenue of Rs 1,000 crore would be collected this year.

He said 4.5 lakh farmers were given farm credit at four per cent interest, the lowest in the country, and the Government had disbursed Rs 1,150 crore in this regard. In all, Rs 7,000 crore would be provided to farmers in the form of various loans this year.

UNI