The long-felt need of farmers to get a fair price for their produce could be closer to reality with the Cabinet giving its nod to constitute an Agriculture Price Commission on Wednesday.
The Chief Minister would decide the composition of the Commission but it will mainly have agriculture experts and other representatives as its members. It will have powers to intervene to help the farmers whenever prices of any agricultural produce crash. The Commission would also has the mandate to prepare region-wise crop pattern and fix minimum price for various crops, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachanra told reporters.
The Cabinet also decided to name the Bangalore City Railway Station after Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna.
It also discussed the needs of the rapidly growing Belgaum city and decided to upgrade the policing system for the city to the level of commissionerate, which would be headed by a police officer of the rank of DIG. Belgaum now has a population of about 16 lakh.
The housing needs of police personnel would be addressed with the Cabinet approving a grant of `454 crore for construction of 11,000 houses for police personnel. Of this, 10,260 houses would be for the personnel in the ranks of constable, head constable and assistant sub-inspector and the rest for sub-inspectors.
The Cabinet has decided to provide government guarantee to avail a loan of `1,818 crore from HUDCO.
The Cabinet has approved to increase the grant from `10,000 to `15,000 for construction of toilets in houses belonging to SC/ST communities under the Nirmala Bharath Abhiyan. Similarly, subsidy under the Basava Housing Scheme would be increased to `1.30 lakh from `1.20 lakh with a mandatory clause for construction of toilet in the house. No subsidy would be paid for houses constructed without toilet.
A sum of `36.50 crore has been granted for repair and renovation of 216 treasury buildings in the state.
In the interests of farmers, the Cabinet has decided not to procure rice from other states for Anna Bhagya scheme.
The Union government has announced a support price of `1,310 for a quintal of paddy and the state would procure it by paying `1,600 per quintal, which includes a bonus of `290 per quintal, he said.
The Cabinet approved grant of `4,103 crore for modernisation of canals under the Upper Krishna project. It includes Narayanapura Left Bank Canal, Jevargi Canal and Shahapur Canal.
Decision was also taken to transfer the district hospitals in Chamarajnagar, Koppal, Kodagu and Gulbarga attached to the government medical colleges under the Medical Education Department. The Cabinet approved a grant of `105 crore for implementation of skill development for youths under the Rajiv Gandhi Chaitanya Scheme.