Information Technology, which generates mass employment and revenue, will be developed in the city such that it can rival the ones set up in Bangalore, said S.R. Patil, Minister of Information Technology and Biotechnology, here on Sunday.
Speaking during the felicitation programme organised by the South Canara District Central Cooperative Bank, Mr. Patil said there was a “misconception” that IT and BT industries were only Bangalore-based and that it was in the “hands of a few people”.
“The Chief Minister has directed us to take IT industries to tier-II cities… with a full-fledged and fully developed IT park in Mangalore, the city can overtake Bangalore in terms of IT,” he said, and added that the department was looking into the demand of Vinay Kumar Sorake, who is Udupi district in-charge Minister, for an IT park in Udupi.
High density
Mr. Patil said there was a need to reduce the density of IT companies in Bangalore. “With 33 lakh workers in over 3,000 IT and BT companies in Bangalore, there is a need to make other cities viable for IT development,” he said. Stressing on the importance of the sector, he said IT companies generated more than Rs. 1.35 lakh crore in revenue and was a significant contributor to the State’s coffers.
Apart from Mr. Patil, Rajya Sabha Member Oscar Fernandes, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Kimmane Ratnakar, four ministers from the twin districts – Minister of Health and Family Welfare U.T. Khader, Minister for Forests, Ecology and Environment B. Ramanth Rai, Minister of Youth Services and Fisheries K. Abhayachandra Jain and Mr. Sorake who is also the Minister of Urban Development – and MLAs Pramod Madhwaraj, T. Shakuntala Shetty, J.R. Lobo, B.A. Mohiuddin Bava, Gopal Poojary, K. Vasanth Bangera were felicitated by the cooperative bank. Mr. Rai highlighted the importance of cooperative banks – especially due to its strong presence in rural areas – to enable women’s empowerment, as well as to extend credit to farmers.
“Farmers who take loans from Cooperative Banks are less likely to commit suicide on defaulting than those who take out loans from private banks,” he said. The Ministers assured the bank that the development of the cooperative bank sector would be a priority in the upcoming state budget.
Mangalore: Travelling more than 600 kilometres, 11 people from Gunaki village near Bijapur arrived in the city to ask Rajya Sabha Member Oscar Fernandes to release funds for a community hall in the village. Nagappa Yelagatti, president of the Beeralingeswara Shiva Temple Committee which is spearheading the demand, said the hall would benefit 20,000 people in the area.
“Since a Rajya Sabha member can contribute to a project anywhere in the State, we decided to ask Mr. Fernandes for the funds,” he said.
The Committee estimates that the MP will have to shell out around Rs. 20 lakh, while the villages will pool in a further Rs. 10 lakh for the hall.
