The State government will request the Union government to include Belagavi in UDAAN, a civil aviation subsidy scheme of the Centre, Heavy Industries Minister K.J. George said in Belagavi on Tuesday.
“Inclusion of the airports in Hubballi and Kolhapur has reduced flights to Belagavi. Some industrialists told me that such reduced air connectivity is hampering industrial growth in the district. I have told them that we will take up the issue with the Centre. I will speak to Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu. I know him. He is a positive-minded leader. I have met him as he holds the Heavy Industries portfolio too. I will also request Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy to seek inclusion of Belagavi in UDAAN,” he told presspersons.
He said that his government was focusing on industrialisation of tier two and tier three cities to turn them into production hubs.
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Starting innovation hubs in five places, including Belagavi, was one of the moves towards this end, he said.
He said that the government was committed to ensuring that sugarcane farmers get fair and remunerative price for their produce.
“We have held several meetings with factory representatives. They say sugar prices are down in the national and international market and they are unable to pay farmers. However, our repeated follow-up has reduced the total dues they owe to farmers. The Chief Minister has instructed officials to seize sugar stocks, sell them and pay farmers in case the factories failed to do so,” he said.
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To a question, he said that the government was not acting harsh on erring sugar factories as it had to maintain a fine balance between farmers demands and the issues concerning factory owners. “If the government closes factories, farmers will suffer. We don’t want that,” he said.
Earlier, the Minister assured local industrialists that a new industrial area would be created on the Bachi-Raichur Highway near Murugod village. He said that an Employee State Insurance hospital will be set up in the Udyambag industrial area in Belagavi.
He met Chamber of Commerce and Industries president Umesh Sharma and other members.
The Minister said that the government would allot five acres of land to the newly started sugar technology degree college in the S. Nijalingappa Sugar Institute in Ganeshpur.
He instructed institute director R.B. Khandagavi to set up a tissue culture laboratory in Mandya district, on the lines of the one on the Belagavi campus. The Minister inspected two new breeds of high-yielding sugarcane, CO-18023 and CO-18024.