Ujjwala beneficiaries' convention on Jan 25

Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel said that an Ujjwala scheme beneficiaries convention will be organised at B C Road, on January 25. The convention will be inaugurated by Union Minister for Petroleum Dharmendra Pradhan.

Kateel told reporters on Tuesday that the Union Cabinet had recently approved the expansion of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana.

The scheme aims to provide LPG connections to all BPL households without deposit. So far, the scheme had targeted BPL card holders listed in the socio-economic and caste census, 2011.

The MP and Parliamentary Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas president Pralhad Joshi, Union Minister Ramesh Jigajinagi will take part in the convention. Nearly 42,000 BPL families in the district were given LPG connections under the scheme, he added.

Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship will organise a job fair, at Canara College in Mangaluru , on January 21. Union Minister for Skill Development Ananth Kumar Hegde will inaugurate the fair the MP said.

Stating that the process of privatisation of airports was initiated by the UPA government, the MP said that during the tenure of the UPA government, Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kannur and Kochi airports were privatised.

Later, the process to privatise 14 airports including Mangaluru, was initiated by the NDA government. The process had reached the bidding stage now.

He clarified that NMPT would not be privatised. The NMPT would be developed as a ‘smart port’.

To a query on BJP MLAs camping in Delhi, he said that the BJP national working committee meeting was held recently.

“After the meeting, the MLAs are being trained for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. I challenge MLC Ivan D’Souza to contest against me or any other BJP candidate in Dakshina Kannada and win the election,” he added.