Farmers who had to suffer crop loss in the district owing to drought in the last rabi season, will shortly receive crop insurance money under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), Pralhad Joshi, MP, said.
Speaking to media persons at a press conference organised in connection with the third anniversary of BJP-led NDA government at the Centre here on Tuesday, Mr. Joshi said the Centre had already released ₹172 crore to the district for the kharif crop loss last year and 89,000 farmers would be befitted from this. Though the amount has been released, the government is not showing a keen interest in remitting it to the bank accounts of the farmers. The district has achieved little more than 50% in disbursing the crop insurance amount, he said.
Cancer institute
Mr. Joshi stated that the NDA government has sanctioned ₹150 crore to the Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) in the last two years to improve medical standards and offer more medical help to the poor and the needy.
The Centre has asked the State government to identify land for the setting up of a state-of-the-art cancer treatment and research centre at Dharwad, he said.
The Centre has sanctioned ₹468 crore for road development in the district. However, these works are not progressing at expected levels owing to the lethargic attitude of the officials and the State government.
The Centre can grant funds, but the work of implementation is the responsibility of the State government. To ease traffic on the bypass, survey work on upgrading it to an eight lane has been completed and the work order has been given. Very soon, National Highway road expansion work from Gabbur Cross to Narendra bypass will be taken up, he said.
Track doubling
Fresh tenders have been floated for the railway track doubling work between Hubballi and Dharwad as the earlier contractor had backed off citing technical reasons.
The Centre has sanctioned ₹2,490 crore for the SWR in 2015-16 and ₹2,779 crore for 2016-17.
This apart, the railway track doubling work between Dharwad and Bengaluru is expected to be completed by 2020, he added.
Airport
The terminal building work at the Hubballi airport has been initiated as per the information from the airport authorities. The terminal building work is expected to be completed by December.
Talks are on with some private airways to start daily flights to Bengaluru and a link flight to Mumbai. One private carrier has agreed to launching a Boeing facility to Hubballi in the next 45 days, Mr. Joshi said.
