Governor lists out K'taka govt's achievements

Bangalore, Jan 25: Construction of six lakh houses to the poor and weaker sections, development of 3000 Km roads at a cost of Rs 4000 crore, setting up of three new medical colleges and creation of a Mega Special Economic Zone near Mangalore are some of the highlights of Governor T N Chaturvedi's address to the joint session of the Karnataka Legislature today.

In his 24-page address the governor listed out achievements of the JD(S)-BJP coalition ministry in the last one year.

Stressing that the government reflected the common man's perspective, he said several schemes formulated to resolve problems of the common man had been implemented successfully. These schemes, included provision of agriculture loan at the rate of four per cent interest, Suvarna Grama Yojana for rural development, Bhagya-Lakshmi scheme for welfare of the girl child, distribution of free bicycle to encourage girl students, subsidy for sowing seeds, and market intervention for onion, copra, tomato and crops.

He said Bangalore continued to be the preferred destination for Information Technology investments. Of the 208 new IT companies last year, four were listed among the fortune 500 and 11 were billion dollar companies. The IT sector alone provided employment to four lakh people. The biotech sector too attracted investment of Rs 500 crore and entry of 35 new biotech companies. The government proposed to hold a unique event on Nanotechnology soon. The state had cleared 756 projects with an investment of Rs 78,639 crore to create employment for 15.35 lakh people, he added.

Declaring that the government was committed to waive the farm loans obtained by the farmers from co-operative institutions by making use of likely revenue accruing from the recovering encroached lands in the city and their displosal as per rules and mobilising other resources. A comprehensive study was being made as to the quantum of loan to be waived and to which category of farmers, he added.

Mr Chaturvedi said the government had set up a cabinet sub committee to oversee implementation of the special package announced by the centre for six districts which had reported high incidence of farmers suicide. The total outlay for the package was Rs 2,689 crore out of which Rs 1,568 crore would come in the form of grant and Rs 1,121 crore in the form of loan, he added saying that a legislation would be brought out to help farmers market their products directly to end users.

He said the state had already submitted memorandum to the centre to relieve the distress situation faced by the state. The centre had released Rs 250 crore and 50,000 tonnes foodgrains. 128 taluks had been declared as drought affected and Kharif crop in 25.72 lakh hectares and Rabi crop in five lakh hectares had been affected due to severe drought. Over 800 villages were affected and 12.12 lakh people were affected due to floods in some parts of the state.

Ninety villages were being shifted permanently involving an expenditure of Rs 23 crore, he added.

On irrigation front, he said Rs 983 crore were provided for various 39 major and medium irrigation projects. Many of these projects were lingering for more than 10 years and would be completed within one year. Irrigation benefits to 98,020 hectares of land could be provided from these projects, he added.

He said Units three and four of Varahi Hydroelectric Project, having a capacity of 230 mw, was expected to be completed by November 2008. He said the letter of intent had been issued for the eighth unit of Raichur Thermal Power station with a capacity of 250 MW and second unit of Bhadra Thermal Power Station with a capacity of 500 MW.

He said the fiscal and financial position of the state played a key role in determining the economic growth and the financial position of the state improved substantially. Institutions like the Finance Commission and the Reserve Bank of India had lauded the fiscal reform measures taken up by the state, he pointed out. The state was committed to maintain its fiscal deficit at less than three per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product as mandated in its Fiscal Responsibility Act, he added.

UNI