K'takar Governor lists out government's achievements

Bangalore, Jan 25 (UNI) Construction of six lakh houses for poor people, 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 here 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.

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.

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