Udupi: The 69th Independence Day was celebrated in a patriotic spirit with pomp at the MGM Ground Indrali, here on Saturday, August 15.
State Minister of Urban Development and district minister in-charge, Vinay Kumar Sorake, hoisted the national flag. He then received a guard of honour from the district police force, NCC, Scouts and Guides.
In his address, Vinay Kumar Sorake, briefing over various development works taken up by the government in the district, said that the people friendly administration by the state government has aided many development programmes to ensure all round development. Rs 90 crore has been allotted for ‘Namma Grama, Namma Rasthe’ for the district. The government has sanctioned Rs 2 crores for infrastructure development of schools. The construction of the mini Vidhan Soudha in Kundapur is completed. The government has sanctioned a mini Vidhan Soudha in Udupi and its construction will begin soon. The district has allotted Rs 21 crore under the Rural Water Supply programme. The minister said that administrative approval from the government for 2,621 action plans is being sought under the programme.
The minister said that as many as 250 beneficiaries have been selected under the Swachh Bharath Mission in the district. The district has received 21,218 applications under 94 C. Land deeds will be issued to the people residing in government lands. The government will launch ‘Swarna Grama’ project, wherein Rs 75 lakhs will be allotted to each legislative constituency. A medical college is expected to be sanctioned for Udupi in the next budget. A college and a police training centre will also be built near Upporu. Under the second phase of the Nagarotthana scheme, Rs 45 crore has been released to take up development programmes in Karkala, Udupi and Saligarama. An amount of Rs 85 crore has been provided for improvement of underground drainage and water supply in the three towns of Udupi district under the Karnataka Integrated Urban Water Management Programme. Of the said Rs 85 crore, Rs 54 crore would be spent on improving the underground drainage system in Kundapur town municipality.
As part of promoting pilgrim tourism in Karkala, Rs 50 lakh had been released to construct a Yatri Nivas. To develop eight-link roads in the district, the Department of Tourism had released Rs 10.55 crore. Various projects have also been taken up under the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project in Udupi district at an estimated cost of Rs 40 crore, he said.
Top scorers of the district in 2014-15 SSLC and PUC exams were honoured on the occasion. The cultural programmes with the essence of devoted nationalistic fervor marked the finale of the Independence day celebrations.
Deputy commissioner Dr R Vishal, MLA Pramod Madhwaraj, Zilla Panchayat president Savitha S Kotian, Additional Superintendent of Police Santhosh Kumar, Taluk Panchayat President Sunitha Naik, ZP CEO M Kanagavalli, president Udupi CMC Yuvaraj and others were present.
