The State government has decided to go ahead with the construction of a state-of-the-art peripheral ring road around Bangalore at a cost of Rs. 5,800 crore.
Briefing presspersons after a meeting of the State Cabinet here on Friday, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs T.B. Jayachandra said it would be a six-lane or an eight-lane road and the total length would be about 65 km. An agency had been directed to prepare the detailed project report within a specified time frame and thereafter would commence the implementation of the project.
The land acquisition for the road is under way and the work will be undertaken with the support of Japan International Cooperation Agency. Farmers who lose their land for the road project will be compensated either with land or money (their choice).
Ration cards
Mr. Jayachandra said the Cabinet approved the implementation of the Food Security legislation as approved by the Parliament recently and it was also decided to ensure that all ration cards were issued in the name of a woman member of the family concerned, effective from November 2. With regards to sugar, a Cabinet subcommittee has been constituted to formulate guidelines since sugar has to be either collected as a levy from the sugar factories or the government has to purchase the required quantum from the open market.
The Cabinet has also approved the requisition of the Department of Food and Civil Supplies to seek the services of personnel from the Revenue and the Urban Development departments to complete the verification of applications seeking new ration cards. There are nearly 20 lakh applications, for APL and BPL cards, pending with the authorities and a large number of them have been received online.
Subsidy
The Minister said the Cabinet also approved a 50 per cent subsidy for solar pumpsets (up to 5 HP) and a pilot project would be undertaken in Bagalkot and Chitradurga districts at a cost of Rs. 5 crore. The other decisions of the Cabinet included public-private participation for starting agricultural extension centres in the regional headquarters, construction of cold-storages, godowns and warehouses with private participation (the interest component of such loans will be paid by the government), a new aerospace policy and under which an aerospace park will come up at Devanahalli near the Bengaluru International Airport and a fresh look into the pricing for bicycles to be provided to students of high schools hailing from BPL families.
