BENGALURU: The State Cabinet on Monday gave its nod to implementing the nationwide micro food processing scheme, as proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, under the Atma Nirbhar Yojana. Under the scheme, processing of local food products under the one-district-one-product plan will be encouraged and setting up of units will be encouraged with tax rebates and assistance to help raise the necessary capital. Of the total Rs 492 crore earmarked for the scheme, the Union Government will contribute Rs 295 crore and the state’s share will be Rs 197 crore, which will be invested over five years.
The government also decided to purchase prime land of about 122 acres near Baiyappanahalli Metro Railway Station, worth about Rs 10,000 crore, belonging to the now defunct New Government Electric Factory (NGEF). The government will buy out the 9.7 per cent stake held by Electro Holding GMBH by paying Rs 62 crore. The cabinet also approved sale of land to the Jindal Group after a cabinet sub-committee, that was formed to look into it, okayed the proposal.
The land was originally granted in 2006 and the lease period had expire. There were other objections raised in 2019. Ironically, the BJP, which was the Opposition party when the JDSCongress coalition government was in power, had opposed the sale of 3,667 acres of land to Jindal.
The phase 3 expansion of the Mangaluru Port, has been approved and Rs 22 crore has been allocated for pending works. The project was hanging fire for over a decade due to legal challenges. Some individuals had opposed the plan before the green bench of the Supreme Court contending that the project would cause ecological damage.