The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : BJP for debate on infrastructure

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Saturday, Apr 18, 2009
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

BJP for debate on infrastructure

Special Correspondent

Claims it has provided more funds for development of Bangalore than Congress ever did

— Photo: K. Gopinathan

On infrastructure: Ministers R. Ashok (second from left) and Katta Subramanya Naidu, flanked by B.N. Vijaykumar and C.N. Aswathnarayan, MLAs, at the press conference in Bangalore on Friday.

BANGALORE: The battle for Bangalore city, which has three Lok Sabha seats, besides parts of Bangalore Rural constituency, has been joined with political parties competing to claim credit for the city’s infrastructure development.

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday claimed that its government had provided the highest allocation for infrastructure development in Bangalore, more than any other government, and challenged the Congress to participate in an open debate on the matter.

We invite Congress leaders to a debate on which party government has made the highest allocation for Bangalore city development. Let the debate be held anywhere in the city as decided by the Congress. We will participate in it, Excise Minister Katta Subramanya Naidu and Transport Minister R. Ashok told presspersons here.

Comparison

The Ministers said the BJP government headed by B.S. Yeddyurappa had allocated Rs. 9,500 crore for the development of Bangalore city in its two State budgets as against Rs. 4,185 crore provided by the Congress in its last seven years in government.

Mr. Naidu alleged that the Congress had not only failed to develop Bangalore but had also attempted to obstruct its development whenever it was in power at the Centre by not releasing sufficient funds. For instance, the Centre had released only Rs. 1,737 crore to Karnataka under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission as against Rs. 27,500 crore sought by the State.

The debate should deliberate on all these issues, including the comparison of allocations made by the UPA and NDA governments, he said.

Both the Ministers, who are also in charge of Bangalore city, claimed that the thrust given by the BJP government to the development of infrastructure in Bangalore city was much more than what had been done by the Congress government headed by S.M. Krishna.

Mr. Ashok said that for the first time in Bangalore’s history, each ward had got a minimum of Rs. 6 crore for infrastructure development as against Rs. 50 lakh earlier.

As many as 1,554 development schemes were being executed at a cost of Rs. 623 crore in the newly added areas coming under 12 Assembly constituencies alone, he noted. He listed various development schemes taken up by the BJP government in Bangalore right from drinking water to roads, construction of underpasses, parks and transport. With respect to the plans to shift the Bangalore Turf Club from the heart of the city to the outskirts, he said the area now occupied by the club would be developed into a garden.

He claimed that the new property tax system implemented by the BJP government in Bangalore had resulted in the collection touching a record high of Rs. 500 crore from the earlier level of Rs. 200 crore.

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