Karnataka Cabinet orders survey to relocate Indira Canteens

The Karnataka Cabinet on Monday decided to order a survey to see if existing Indira Canteens, the highly-subsidised eateries, can be relocated to make sure they become more useful to citizens.

“We’ve called for a study to be done and some of the canteens will be shifted to bus stands and other such dense localities,” Law Minister J C Madhuswamy said, briefing reporters.

Indira Canteens provide breakfast for Rs 5 and lunch/dinner for Rs 10. A pet project of the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government, the canteens were first started for the urban poor in Bengaluru, expanding later to all districts across the state. There are 174 canteens in Bengaluru and over 170 in the districts.

“Local bodies have to pitch in 30-40% of the operational cost and they’ve asked the government to pay instead. For the government to pitch, we need to ensure the canteens are being used properly,” Madhuswamy said.

In other decisions, the Cabinet decided to amend the Karnataka Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishments Act to avoid multiple cases from being booked. “We’ve seen multiple FIRs being registered in one case. All of them will be clubbed and a single case will be booked. We will have only one case number going forward,” Madhuswamy explained.

The Cabinet approved Rs 136 crore for a veterinary college in Puttur, Rs 25 crore for a textile park in Shiggaon (Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s constituency), Rs 36 crore for a rail over bridge between Davangere and Harihara and Rs 105 crore to fill up lakes in Haveri.

As a special case, the Cabinet decided to give a job to the wife of late IPS officer KV Jagadish on compassionate grounds. The officer died in September last year.

Govt against iron ore exports

Law Minister J C Madhuswamy said the government will tell the Supreme Court that it is against exporting iron ore. "In 2013, the SC had asked us not to export. In 2021, when this came up for discussion again, we said it won't be respectable for us to indulge in this given the scam that happened. So, our stand was that we shouldn't export the ore. We've decided to stick to this stand," he said.

The Centre, he pointed out, had changed its stand now to say that exports should be allowed in view of "severe losses" and the drop in the commercial value of iron ore. "Every year, we've saving 8 million tonnes of ore as they aren't marketed. We extract 46-47 million tonnes and 35 million tonnes are tendered for the steel industry," he said.

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