Large and Medium Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar said that the time is ripe for the government to review the progress of the utilisation of funds which were released to 114 backward taluks, as per the recommendations of the D.M. Nanjundappa Committee report on regional imbalance, to know the economic and development status in these areas.
Speaking after inaugurating the Dr. M. Nanjundappa Centre for Applied Research in Economics (DNM-CARE) in the Department of Economics at Karnatak University here Friday, Mr. Shettar said that Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa will be impressed upon to re-evaluate the report soon.
Mr. Shettar said that no governments can isolate the report and think of economic or developmental programmes.
The report is the base for all the welfare programmes and to curb regional imbalance. The committee was appointed by the government headed by then Chief Minister S.M. Krishna.
However, it was Mr. Yediyurappa, who during his first term as Chief Minister allocated ₹6,000 crore as per the recommendations of the report, to backward regions. He set a new tradition of reserving funds in every budget to fulfil the aspirations of Dr. Nanjundappa. It is unfortunate that even after doling out funds and going for effective implementation of the report, regional imbalance could not be erased, he said. Referring to the new industrial policy, Mr. Shettar stated that it would stress upon tackling the regional imbalance. Several MNCs which are approaching the government seeking land to set up their plant near Bengaluru are being asked to penetrate into tier-2 cities to generate employment.
The government is willing to give them subsidy if they move out of Bengaluru and have units in Bombay Karnataka or Kalyana Karnataka regions, he added.
Speaking on the occasion, H.K. Patil, former Minister and Gadag MLA, said that today, the vice-chancellor’s offices have turned into office of controversies. But, Dr. Nanjundappa was a visionary and brought in discipline into the administration when he was the vice-chancellor of KU. He set high standards in every field he worked and is a role model for policymakers. He asked DMN-CARE to shoulder the responsibility of evaluating the progress of the report and submit to the government for further measures.
Shivaratri Deshikendra Mahaswami inaugurated the DMN-CARE and hailed the works of Dr. Nanjundappa.
