Bumper bonanza for Kodagu district in budget

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has announced a bumper bonanza for the people of Kodagu in the budget presented by him on Friday.

The chief minister had faced the wrath of Kodava people after he failed to declare any specific programme for Kodagu in the state budget during 2018-2019. This time around, he has made an effort to appease people from the coffee land, by announcing several programmes in the budget.

However, the demand for the announcement of Kushalnagar and Ponnampet as the taluk centres has been turned down, which in turn has disappointed the activists who had been fighting for the cause.

Kodagu was lacking a super speciality hospital and the terminally ill patients had to be shifted to the private hospitals in Mysuru and Mangaluru.

The chief minister has taken a major step by announcing Rs 100 crore for the 450 bedded super-speciality hospital on the premises of Kodagu Institute of Medical Sciences in Madikeri. The announcement has received huge appreciation.

Also, Rs 10 crore grants have been reserved for the integrated development of Kodava Samaja. A grant of Rs 1 crore has been reserved under a special encouragement scheme for the regional languages Kodava, Tulu and Konkani.

A sports hostel for Madikeri has also been approved in the budget.

Drone based re-survey has been planned towards solving the land issues in various districts, including Kodagu.

An amount of Rs 2 crore has been reserved for the day-to-day expenditure of Kodagu Reconstruction Authority which was formed in the aftermath of landslides and flash-floods in Kodagu during August 2018.

A fund of Rs 100 crore has been earmarked towards the prevention of elephant-human conflict, which will benefit the district where the problem is on the rise. It has been planned to utilise the funds towards the construction of fences made out of railway tracks. The government has also planned to grow fodder for animals in the forest, which is favourable for Kodagu district.

The budget of the state government also has something good to offer for paddy cultivators. Paddy growers will be provided with a subsidy of
Rs 7,500 per hectare. The paddy growers are happy as their demand has been fulfilled by the government. Most of the paddy fields are barren these days even though Kodagu was once known for large scale cultivation of paddy.

This apart, Rs 5 crore has been reserved for apiculture in Kodagu, to bring the apiculturists in Bhagamandala, Shantalli and Somwarpet back to the business. The apiculturists had been deviating from the job due to the menace of diseases.