By  Team Mangalorean Bangalore

BANGALORE, JULY 14, 2009: Karnataka government has decided to develop 21 helipads in 21 places in the State. Already Rs 10 lakh each had been released to Deputy Commissioners of districts concerned in this regard, Minister for Tourism and Infrastructure Development G Janardhana Reddy told members of the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.

He said steps have been taken to develop airports in Gulbarga, Shimoga, Hassan, Bijapur and Bellary under public-private-partnership model, the Minister said. The air connectivity in these second tier towns expected to fuel economic growth and decongest Bangalore.

He said the work on Central government-owned Belgaum, Hubli, Mangalore and Mysore airports is being taken up by Airports Authority of India. 

Govt to set up more Bangalore One centres

BANGALORE: Karnataka government has proposed to increase the number of Bangalore One centres which offer various services, including bill payment and passport, from present 53 to 100 by the end of 2009.

These centres established in Bangalore with private public partnership for delivery of over 15 services.

Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa told the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday that Bangalore One centres are at presently located in 53 places in the city and they would be extended to 100 places by the end of the year.

Following the successful venture in Bangalore, he said the similar initiative would be launched in four second tier cities of Mysore, Bangalore, Mangalore, Shimoga and Belgaum. The Chief Minister was responding to a question of Yogish Bhat, Mangalore BJP MLA.

It was planned to open centres in Mysore, where five locations have been identified, Mangalore, Belgaum and Shimoga. E-governance would be implemented in government departments from the district level to the State Secretariat this year, and later it would be done from the gram panchayat to district level.

Steps have been taken to implement e-governance in important departments, and a comprehensive road-map would be drawn up to cover all the departments, he said.

However, several Congress members such as T B Jayachandra, Narendra Babu and Dinesh Gundu Rao expressed dissatisfaction over services provided by Nemmadi Kendras in the State.

Dinesh Gundu Rao (Congress) said the Karnataka ranked 15th in implementation of e-governance in administration and delivery of services in the country.

Corridor

Mr Yeddyurappa told the Legislative Assembly that a detailed project report has been prepared for the proposed signal free corridor from Cubbon Road to Outer Ring Road in Sarvajnanagar constituency in the city.

In a reply to K J George of the Congress during the question hour, Mr. Yeddyurappa said the signal free corridor would be developed from Cubbon Road to Outer Ring Road via Kamaraj Road, Budhvihar Road and Hennur Road, and Outer Ring Road from Mysore road to Central Silk Board junction. It was proposed to construct underpasses near two junctions in the corridor and the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has planned to take up these underpasses next year.

A sum of Rs. 2300 crore would be spend for development of infrastructure in the city in 2009-10 and Rs. 27.80 crore had been set aside for Sarvajnanagar constituency, he said.

K’taka to develop 1.68 lakh sites in Bangalore 

BANGALORE: Karnataka Government on Tuesday said that the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has chalked out a mega plan for addressing housing problem in Bangalore City.

The BDA has planned to develop five new residential layouts with a total number of 1,68,065 sites in and around Bangalore and the layout would be developed in a year.

This was stated by Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa to the Legislative Assembly in a written reply to members. 

Housing Minister V Somanna has already stated the government would chalk out a plant to make Bangalore free from slums and houseless in a span of four years. The city has over 400 slums now and many employees have been residing in rented houses in the city. The prices of houses skyrocketed following shortage of lands in the city.

The five layouts would be developed on 15,277 acres and they would be named after Kempegowda layout (4814 acres), Dr. Shivarama Karanth Layout (3546 acres), Sri Changalraya Reddy Layout (2134 acres), D Devaraj Urs Layout (1976 acres) and S Nijalingappa Layout (2806 acres). 

Lands in 27 villages would be acquired for developing layouts in and around the City, the Chief Minister said.

Of the 1.68 lakh sites, 12,000 sites are aimed to be distributed to the poor and low income groups. The government planned to acquire 15,277 acres.

Land acquisition process pertaining to two layouts has already commenced, while the Government has given the go-ahead to BDA to issue initial notification on land acquisition relating to the three other layouts.  

The Chief Minister said 45 per cent of the acquired land would be utilised for infrastructure development and other facilities. Of the remaining 55 per cent, 40 per cent of the developed sites would be given to the land owners as compensation and the rest would be distributed to the public. 

K'taka govt draws up contingent crop plan

The Karnataka government has drawn up a contingent crop plan to go in for suitable crops and varieties for different agroclimatic regions of the state in the event of failure of monsoon, the Legislative Council was informed here today.

In a written reply to Janata Dal (Secular) Member Basavaraj Horatti, Karnataka Agriculture Minister S A Raveendranath said during the current 'Kharif' season, about 31.91 lakh hectares of land was brought under sowing against the target of about 72 lakh hectares due to short rainfall.

Considering the poor rainfall in the season, the state government had drawn up a contingent crop plan and farmers had been advised to adopt dry land farming practices in the event of delayed sowings, he said, adding medium and short duration varieties had been recommended in place of long duration varieties.

The contingent crop plan also suggested to farmers of rainfed areas to go for inter-cropping and mixed cropping pattern, he stated and added that the department had made arrangements for meeting the requirement of the seeds and other necessary inputs.