Ahead of the Assembly elections, the State Cabinet on Friday decided to withdraw 127 criminal cases filed against over 1,000 people, including farmers.
After the Cabinet meeting on Friday, Law Minister T.B. Jayachandra told reporters the cases included 60 filed against farmers during various agitations, including that against acquisition of land for Kudgi thermal power plant and that seeking resolution of the Mahadayi issue.
The cases also included a few group clashes as well as stray communal incidents, he said.
The Cabinet also gave administrative clearance for providing free shoes and socks for students of classes one to 10 in all government schools at a cost of ₹130 crore in 2018–19. The Law Minister said about 48 lakh students would benefit from this.
Special allowances for vets
The Cabinet also decided to accept a proposal for providing special allowances to veterinarians on the lines of that being given to medical doctors. Mr. Jayachandra said the Cabinet had decided to accept about 25% quantum of the allowance sought by veterinarians.
Kolar district would now get a full-fledged cricket stadium, with the Cabinet agreeing to grant 16 acres of land at Huttur hobli of the district to the Karnataka State Cricket Association on lease for building the stadium.
The Cabinet also gave approval for allowing GMR Group, which built the Hyderabad international airport, to build a terminal building for civil aviation in Bidar, the Minister said.
The Cabinet gave clearance for revising the cost of multi-village drinking water project — under which 2.3 tmcft of water from the Tungabhadra reservoir would be supplied to fluoride-hit town and villages of parched areas such as Pavagada and other areas en route, including Molakalmuru — to ₹2,618 crore.
The Cabinet also came to the rescue of traditional stone workers at Maddakanahalli in Sira taluk of Tumakuru district who take up quarrying of grey granite which is predominantly used in construction of temples. These workers, who belong to the Dalit community of Bovi, had not registered the lease deeds that had been sanctioned to their families who are into this work for more than a century. The Cabinet decided to allow them to register the leases granted to them so that there would not be any legal hassles, Mr. Jayachandra said.
The Cabinet also decided to recommend to the Centre to consider Betta Kuruba community belonging to the Scheduled Tribe as a synonym of Kadu Kuruba.
