The former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar said that he would wait for another week for the release of funds for development projects of the twin cities, failing which an agitation would be launched.
Addressing presspersons here on Wednesday, Mr. Shettar said that ever since the Congress government came to power in the State, the funds allocated for developmental projects in Hubli-Dharwad had not been released. Funds have not been released even for projects for which budgetary provisions were made.
Mr. Shettar said that funds under the State Finance Commission (SFC) grants due for the Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation had not been released, and even the remainder of the Rs. 100 crore special grants given for the second time to the municipal corporation were not released. “When I was the Chief Minister I had sanctioned a special grant of Rs. 25 crore for road development works. However, barring the Rs. 9 crore released earlier, the remaining amount is yet to be released,” he said.
He said that subsequent to his review of developmental works of the Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation, he had held a meeting on the issue with the Principal Secretary and other senior officials. They had promised that the funds would be released in a week.
“We will wait for them to take the necessary steps. If they don’t, then we will decide on the next course of action,” he said. Referring to the alleged manhandling of a Kannada television channel cameraman here on Tuesday night, Mr. Shettar said he had sought action against a Vidyanagar police inspector who was accused of instigating the security guards to attack presspersons.
