BANGALORE: Lamenting the reduced allocation to the state in the Budget presented by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday, Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda said non-plan grants and central assistance have been cut, which means Karnataka will get less than expected.
“We had requested to raise the duty on imported silk yarn to protect our sericulturists from cheap imported yarn. We had also sought a package to safeguard the welfare of our sericulturists. But to our disappointment, these requests have not at all been considered in the Budget,” Gowda said. However, Gowda welcomed the decision of providing Rs 50 crore for the research activities of University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad and the move to have Viability Gap Funding (VGF) extended to many other project types under PPP.