The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Bungalows to be built for 15 Ministers

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Thursday, Nov 20, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Bungalows to be built for 15 Ministers

Special Correspondent

Of the 33 Ministers, only 18 have been provided houses

The bungalows will be built at Hebbal in Bangalore
President to inaugurate Buddha Vihara on January 7

Shobha Karandlaje

BANGALORE: The Cabinet on Wednesday decided to construct spacious residential bungalows for 15 Ministers on 14.2 acres of land of the Karnataka Agro Industries Corporation Limited at Hebbal in the city.

The Karnataka Agro Industries Corporation Ltd. has become economically unviable and has been incurring losses for the past few years. The Government has paid Rs. 42 crore to the corporation for clearing its pending dues.

Briefing presspersons on the decisions taken at the Cabinet meeting, presided over by Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Shobha Karandlaje said that of the 33 Ministers in the Government, 18 had been provided residential houses.

Each house would have all facilities such as sit-outs, green spaces, parking and servant quarters. The cost was yet to be estimated, Ms. Karandlaje said.

Suvarna Gramodaya

The Cabinet decided to cover 1,000 more villages under the Suvarna Gramodaya Scheme.

Already, 1,200 villages have been covered under the scheme.

The Cabinet meeting held in Gulbarga decided to include 200 villages. Thus, the total number of villages covered under the scheme would now stand at 2,400.

Legislators had been asked to identify 1,000 villages. Each village would get Rs. 1 crore for taking up development works.

A decision was taken to release Rs. 6 crore for organising a programme and implementing development works in Gulbarga during President Pratibha Patil and the Tibetan Buddhist religious leader the Dalai Lama’s visit to that in January 2009. Of the Rs. 6 crore, Rs. 65 lakh had been earmarked for erecting pandals, she said.

The President would on January 7 inaugurate the Buddha Vihara built by the Siddhartha Vihara Trust at a cost of around Rs. 4 crore on the outskirts of Gulbarga.

As there were several complaints about denial of below poverty line (BPL) cards to the eligible families, it was decided to issue them such cards till December 15, she said.

The Chief Minister on Tuesday instructed the Food and Civil Supplies Department to issue biometric bar-coded ration cards for all eligible BPL families by the year-end.

Following reduction in the prices of iron ore and steel, the Cabinet decided to ask an official committee, headed by Chief Secretary Sudhakar Rao, to re-negotiate the price of bicycles with the manufacturers.

This year, bicycle companies Hero, Atlas, Avon, and Tubes India had quoted 33 per cent and 31.61 per cent higher price for boys and girls bicycles, respectively.

The companies had quoted Rs. 2,733 for a bicycle used by girls and Rs. 2,698 for a bicycle used by boys. In 2006-07, the companies had charged Rs. 2,050 for each bicycle.

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