With a view to be in the good books of MLAs, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy is unveiling a Rs 7,182-crore Gramina Sumarga scheme for upgrading over 20,000 kms of rural roads in the state.
The project, which was approved in the Cabinet on Friday, will cover rural roads in all Assembly constituencies of the state. Both the Congress and the JD(S) legislators had been complaining about bad roads in their constituencies and had been exerting pressure on the chief minister to release separate grants for them.
"Karnataka has a rural blacktop road network of 56,362 km. Of them, we have identified 24,246 km as priority village roads that provide access to key infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, panchayat offices and so on,” Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said, briefing reporters.
"Of these priority roads, 4,000 km will be only patched-up while the rest 20,000 km need reconstruction, re-asphalting and other maintenance," he said.
The scheme will be implemented in three-phases. "We will prepare a road condition index to prioritise roads that will be taken up first."
The scheme, Gowda asserted, will come with a service guarantee that the rural roads will be motorable for five years. "Nationally, Karnataka figures in the top three when it comes to rural road connectivity. With this scheme, we’re shifting focus on maintenance in order to protect the assets we’ve created over the years."
In fact, some of the Congress legislators were so upset that they were planning to raise a banner of revolt against the chief minister last month. The "like-minded" legislators had complained to their party leaders against Kumaraswamy for not cooperating with them as far as the development of their constituencies was concerned.
Other decisions:
* 30% reservation to forest dwellers in recruitment of forest guards
* Revision of pay scale for 3,628 employees of temples under the Muzrai department.
* Development of a stretch of State Highway 44 in Badami taluk at a cost of Rs 35 crore.
* Rs 161 crore for lift irrigation project in Gokak taluk.
* Approval of tender for infrastructure works, excluding administrative block construction at RGUHS campus in Ramanagara at a cost of Rs 483 crore.
* Modernization of Tumakuru branch canal of Hemavathi at a cost of Rs 475 crore and providing a connection to Kunigal at a cost of Rs 614 crore.
* Amendment to the Karnataka Startup Policy to align the definition of ‘startup’ as defined by the Centre in its policy.