'Carving Ullal taluk from M’luru is beneficial'

District In-charge Minister U T Khader said the carving of Ullal taluk from Mangaluru taluk will not only benefit the residents of Ullal, but will also be a big benefit to the district.

Welcoming the state government’s order on making Mulki and Ullal separate taluks, said the taluk status, will prevent people from travelling nearly 20 to 30 km to get their work done in Mangaluru.

“The new taluks will facilitate good governance and effective implementation of development schemes. The new taluks are now eligible for Mini Vidhana Soudha, RTO, playground, 108-bedded hospital and Ambedkar Bhavan,” he said.

Khader, thanking Revenue Minister R V Deshpande, hoped that all government department offices will be in one common building. The new taluks will be inaugurated by Deshpande on March 7, he said and added that the taluks will take some time to provide full-fledged services to public. “Though there is no demand from voters, I am pursued the taluk status by submitting proposals,” he said.

When his reaction was sought to BJP President B S Yeddyurappa’s statement that BJP will win a majority of Lok sabha seats in the aftermath of Pulwama attack, Khader said Yeddyurappa’s statement has yet again exposed the fact that BJP will stoop to any level to get seats. When the Congress thinks about the soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the Pulwama attack, BJP is counting the number of seats, he ridiculed.

“That is the difference between BJP and Congress,” he said and recollected how then Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilas Rao Deshmukh was asked to step down by the high command for taking a film director along after the terrorist attacks on Taj hotel. “Now, people are watching whether BJP high command will take a similar step against Yeddyurappa,” he said.

When his reaction was sought to Prime Minister’s statement on surgical strike, Khader said, “When Manmohan Singh was the prime minister, he was talking less and working more. And people paid respect to each word he spoke. But now when our prime minister speaks, even small kids question him. Such a situation has been created in our country,” he said.

Khader, who is also the minister for urban development, said the government has introduced a policy on replacing all bulbs, including sodium vapor bulbs with LED lighting.

This decision was taken to reduce the burden on urban local bodies. Each urban local body should float tenders and ensure that the contractor uses LED bulbs as per the specifications released by the department. The electricity bill will be reduced by 50 per cent, he said.