K. Raghupati Bhat, MLA and BJP leader, said on Monday that besides streamlining the project to bring water from the Varahi to Udupi city, the option of constructing a dam against the Swarna at Shimbra near Manipal too would be examined.
Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Bhat said that already tenders for the project for bringing water from Varahi river to Udupi had been floated. Some changes would be made in the project so that it was more efficient. A feasibility study would be done with regard to constructing a dam at Shimbra against the Swarna to meet the drinking water needs of Udupi city, he said.
He said that the new 200-bed Government Women and Children’s Maternity Hospital constructed by the NRI businessman, B.R. Shetty, here, should be handed over to the government. Its management should also be handed over from Mr. Shetty’s concern to the government.
A committee led by the District Surgeon comprising of elected representatives should oversee the running of the hospital. The hospital should be named only after the philanthropist, late Haji Abdulla Saheb, who had donated the land for the hospital.
The agreement between the State government and Mr. Shetty’s concern should be modified. All facilities should be made available at the hospital, before the construction of a 400-bed super-specialty hospital by Mr. Shetty’s concern, Mr. Bhat said.
Sand extraction
He said efforts would be made to draft a simple policy to resolve the sand extraction problem by August. There was no need for unscientific GPS equipments to be attached to the boats which were used to extract sand.
The wrong decision taken by the district administration with regard to sand extraction would be set right. The next step with regard to this issue would be taken after knowing who the next Minister for Mines and Geology and the next Udupi district in-charge Minister were, he said.
He could not hold any official review meeting as the Model Code of Conduct was in force for the Legislative Council elections. He had directed the Udupi municipality officers to clear the drains to facilitate free flow of water during the monsoon. The BJP workers had been told not to indulge in any violence on the Congress workers during victory celebrations, Mr. Bhat said.
Dinakar Babu, Prabhakar Poojary, Upendra Nayak, Raghavendra Kini, Dawood Abubakar, BJP leaders, were present.
