Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has created history by presenting the 12th budget of Karnataka. However, there seems to be nothing much for Mysuru, his home district, and the old Mysuru region.
Siddaramaiah is just one short of the record of the late chief minister Ramakrishna Hegde, who has presented 13 budgets.
The announcement in the budget for Mysuru city and district are: Film city in Himmavu; Induction of 50 electric buses into the KSRTC for Mysuru city services; Second Composite Weaving Factory on the premises of Mysore Silk Weaving Factory at a cost of Rs 5 crore; Rs 2 crore grant for Muslim Boys and Girls Orphanage; Academy for Tennis at a cost of Rs1 crore; Construction of six new well-equipped classrooms at Chamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts at a cost of Rs 10.96 crore; Modern gymnastic facility at a cost of Rs 2 crore; Development of 22-km road around Mysuru city at an estimated cost of Rs 117 crore; Establishment of Silk Mega Cluster in collaboration with the Union government; Construction of an Aero Sports Hub; Strengthening of TRAC programme and extension to Mysuru railway station; Rs 5 crore for Aqua Sports Centre at Varuna Lake on PPP model; New taluk of Sargur by bifurcating H D Kote taluk; Tank filling project in Muttinamulisoge village of Periyapatna taluk; Modernisation of Hanagod canal network; Hura and other 25 tank filling projects in Nanjangud taluk; Developmental works of 374 km canals in Cauvery basin at a cost of Rs 509.55 crore; and Cement concrete lining works of DD Urs (Varuna) Canal from 0 km to 75 km.
What’s in for districts
The announcements for the Mysuru region are: Bifurcation of Hanur taluk from Kollegal taluk; Sericulture Training Institute for Hassan district; New government medical college for Kodagu and Chamrajanagar; New airport in Madikeri; Rejuvenation of six lift irrigation projects and 16 tank filling projects in Maddur taluk; Rangenahalli and other 22 tank filling project in Holenarsipur taluk; Reconstruction of Sri Ramadeva Dam in Holenarsipur taluk; Modernisation of Harangi Left Bank chain from 27.083 km to 149.38 km; Modernisation of RBLL of KRS Project; Development of Sir Cotton Canal, Hampapura and Guppamma canals of Kollegal taluk; Lift irrigation from Hebballa to affected achcut area of Hebballa Chennaiah Canal of Malavalli taluk; Construction of check dams in Chamarajanagar, Hassan and other districts having severe groundwater depletion at Rs 20 crore; Blood transfusion units in district hospitals of Chamarajanagar and Kodagu, at Rs 1.2 crore; Beggar’s Relief Centers in Chamarajanagar and Hassan districts by Central Relief Committee; Rejuvenation of Tippagondanahalli Reservoir in Malavalli taluk; Grant of Rs 175 crore for celebration of Bhagawan Bahubali Maha Masthakabhishekha at Shravanabelagola; Development of Kollegal-Hanur road (23.8 km), Magadi-Somwarpet road via Huliyurudurga-Nagamangala-KR Pet (166 km), Rs 50 crore special package for development of roads in Kodagu district among others under KSHIP-III (ADB 2nd loan); Construction of 3-D mini planetarium (dome size of 10 m) at Madikeri at a cost of Rs 5.75 crore; and Development of Kasthurba Ashram at Arsikere at a cost of Rs 2 crore.
Most of the announcements in the budget are there for several years and some of them were announced in earlier budgets too. While some of them have already been executed, like the Chamarajanagar Government Medical College, some of them are around for almost a decade, like the Silk Mega Cluster.
Even as Siddaramaiah has included some of the Central projects in his budget, no funds have been earmarked for most of his announcements. Sargur and Hanur taluks have been proposed, but it has to be recalled that Hanur was announced in 2013 also, by Jagadish Shettar, and most of the taluks created then are still languishing due to lack of funds. New airport has been proposed for Madikeri, but so far not much has been done for the existing Mysuru Airport.
It has to be noted that the most frequent and probably the only visitor (an exaggeration) to the Mysuru Airport is Siddaramaiah himself.