Air India planning to start Hubballi-Delhi flight: MP

Hubballi seems to be getting nearer to the national capital very soon.

When Star Air is expected to start its flight operations between Hubballi and Hindon near Delhi next month, under UDAN regional connectivity scheme, Air India has also proposed to start a flight between Hubballi and New Delhi via Mumbai.

Revealing this, MP Pralhad Joshi stated that Air India has shown interest to start Hubballi-Mumbai-Delhi flight, impressed by the operations of flights from Hubballi to various places including Bengaluru, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, and Chennai.

Speaking after handing over a booklet on the achievements of the NDA government in last four years, to SSK Kamaripet Panch Committee members here on Friday, as part of the BJP's 'Sampark for Samarthan' campaign, he stated that 12 flights are now operating from Hubballi Airport, which has been upgraded.

With better infrastructure and good connectivity, more industries would automatically come to this region, he said.

BIS office

A Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) office has also been sanctioned for Hubballi, and the District Administration has suggested to open it at the KSFC office building at Rayapur. This office would help manufacturers and businessmen in the region to get testing facility and the ISI mark for their products here itself, Joshi said.

The proposal to open a region office of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) in Hubballi is also in the final stage of consideration, he said.

Though the Union Government has released Rs 211 crore for 'Smart City' project in the twin cities, progress in the implementation is very poor. There is a need of a good and full-time officer for the project implementation. Though the BJP is in power in the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC), most of the powers are with the HDMC commissioner, and not the mayor, he noted.

On Kims development

Under Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana, the Centre has provided Rs 130 crore to construct a super-speciality hospital at the Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (Kims) here. But, the State Government delayed the release of its share of Rs 30 crore, and it has now released only Rs 15 crore. Rs 62 crore would also be spent to develop speech & hearing aid section at the Kims, Joshi said.

Unlike the UPA regime, the NDA government controlled inflation, while prices of food grains came down. National highways are being constructed fast, creating indirect employment. Rs 33,000 crore is saved due to LPG subsidy 'give it up' campaign, and that money is used to give LPG connections to poor people, he said.

India has become a net exporter of electricity. Though more than three lakh houses are sanctioned for the State, only 38,000 houses were constructed here. Keeping all these points in view, Narendra Modi should be made the prime minister again in 2019, Joshi added.

Vitthal Ladwa, Gajanan Katwe, Nagesh kalburgi, D K Chavan, and others were present.