The then Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda made an attempt in 2012 to set up a rubber tyre factory in his native Sullia taluk in Dakshina Kannada, with little success. People here wonder whether he will revive it in his capacity as Union Minister now.
He demitted office as Chief Minister after 11-month tenure. Since then, the project proposal has been in cold storage.
The government had identified about 60 acres of land at Ajjavara village in the taluk for setting up the factory at a cost of Rs. 400 crore to Rs. 500 crore.
Two months before demitting office, Mr. Gowda convened a meeting of senior officials in Mandekolu village in the same taluk to discuss the modalities of setting up the factory.
He had asked officials to undertake a technical feasibility study of the project, for obtaining environmental clearance from the Union government, for clearance from the Central Pollution Control Board, and other procedures.
As rubber is the prominent commercial crop in Dakshina Kannada after arecanut, Mr. Gowda’s plan was to provide employment to local people in the factory to an extent of 80 per cent.
He had thought of setting up the factory in Sullia as, according to the State’s industrial policy for 2009-14, the taluk comes under zone III for which the government could give more incentives.
According to Karnataka Forest Development Corporation (KFDC), Dakshina Kannada alone contributes 8,000 tonnes of rubber a year from its 20,000 hectares of land under rubber cultivation.
Mr. Gowda came into the limelight after he led a three-day 90-km padayatra from Sullia to Mangalore in December 2001, seeking minimum support price for white arecanut when its price fell drastically. Its price crashed from Rs. 160 a kg in 1999-2000 to Rs. 40 a kg in 2001. He was a second-time MLA from the Puttur Assembly constituency then.
