As his government completes 100 days in office, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai expressed satisfaction with the decisions taken so far in taking the administration in the right direction, and State is working towards inclusive economic progress. He ruled out any discussion on expanding the Cabinet.
“I'm satisfied with the decisions that have been taken with regards to taking the administration in the right direction, by taking officials into confidence,” Mr. Bommai said.
Ending months of speculation about a change of guard in the State, Mr. Bommai had on July 28 taken over as the Chief Minister of Karnataka from BJP stalwart B.S. Yediyurappa, who stepped down after his government completed two years in office.
“Though 100 days is not a major milestone, it is certainly a clear indication on our way forward,” the Chief Minister told reporters. “The strong and promising steps that we have taken in the last 100 days, and the decisive decisions that we have taken, will indicate about the pro-people path that our government will take in the future.” Pointing at the programmes of his government, like Amrith schemes, scholarship for children of farmers and social security initiatives, he said, the economy is slowly recovering, and looking at the recovery the administration plans to take several progressive steps for welfare of the people.
“I have two plans – one is to improve the system and see to it that the government and its programmes reach the people. Second is, utilising human resources effectively with economic progress. For example, though Karnataka’s per capita income is among top five in India, there has to be contribution from all sections of society, including SC, ST, OBC, poor and women. We are working on it,” he added.
Mr. Bommai highlighted implementation of ‘CM Dashboard’ that is said to be in line with the Prime Minister's Office, which facilitates him to review progress of various departments on a digital platform.
Ruling out cabinet expansion, he said, he will not go to Delhi on November 7 for the national executive meeting, but participate via video conferencing from the party office in Hubballi.
On his government's decision to reduce both petrol and diesel prices by ₹7 per litre, Mr. Bommai said, “Following the Central Government's decision to reduce fuel prices, I spoke to the Union Finance and Home Minister who expressed a desire that the State too should slash prices. I spoke to our senior officials and decided on reducing prices.”
Stating that the cut in prices will be effective from November 4 evening, he said, the estimated loss to the State exchequer is ₹2,100 crore.
Bowing to criticism, the Central Government had on November 3 cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by ₹5 and ₹10 per litre respectively to help bring prices down from their highest-ever levels.
Stating that ‘Janasevaka’, an initiative to deliver services to the doorstep of beneficiaries, will be rolled out across Karnataka on January 26, the Chief Minister said the rollout will be done in stages, and staff will be trained for the initiative.
The initiative has been launched in Bengaluru. He said, “If there are any shortcomings, we will rectify them and then proceed to other places.”
