VIJAYPURA: Minister of Health and Family Welfare Shivananda Patil said he is ready to resign from his cabinet post for the welfare of the party. "I had a dream of becoming a minister at least once in my life, which has been fulfilled," he said.
Speaking to reporters here on Sunday, Patil said, "I have not bothered about the state government's existence, but I am sincere to my position. In the last 100 days, the department of health and family welfare, without bothering about political developments in the state, is working sincerely to ensure that people are getting all the facilities. I am putting 100 per cent efforts to complete all the pending projects in the department before I hand it over to others."
"If the high command orders me to step down from the ministerial post without any objections. I will resign from the post and will continue as a Congress party member and legislator of Basavana Bagewadi constituency. If my resignation will solve party disputes and can address the grievances of unhappy leaders, then I am more than happy to walk out from my position," he expressed.
Department of Health and Family Welfare:
Detailing about the works that have been initiated in the health department after Shivananda Patil taking charge, he said, "In a span of 100 days of this government, 250 expert physicians, more than 300 MBBS doctors have been appointed and all of them have been posted in the rural areas. From Tuesday, a counselling to recruit 1,650 doctors will also start and 350 ambulances will be on road to provide emergency services. There are a few accumulated problems in the department and all of them will be solved step-by-step," stated Shivananda.
Referring to the Arogya Karnataka scheme,"The state government will merge it with the central government's new scheme Ayushman Bharat health scheme. It will benefit more than 1.5 crore families where more than four crore people will get the advantage of the scheme. The people can avail this scheme even without enrolling but they have to produce their Below Poverty Line and Aadhaar cards to get the benefits of the scheme," detailed Minister Shivananda.
Vijayapura DCC Bank
Minister Patil is the president of DCC bank and was celebrating the 99th anniversary. Giving the details about the functioning of the bank, he said, "The bank has made a profit of Rs 19.98 crore and paid a tax of Rs 7.28 crore. In the last five years, the bank has made a profit of Rs 53 crore with 35 branches in Vijayapura. The government has paid Rs 680 crore of farm loan that has announced by the Siddaramaiah. We are expecting another Rs 600 crore from the ongoing government."
The bank has more than two lakh farmer customers in 35 branches. Earlier, we used to give a maximum of Rs 35,000 loan to the farmers. Now, the plan is to increase it to Rs 50,000. Every year, we are witnessing the 20-25 per cent growth and the share price has also increased. By the next year of centenary celebrations, we are planning to open 50 branches in the district," detailed Patil.