BENGALURU: Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday called the recent Union Budget development-oriented and said it has met the State Government’s expectations in all key sectors. Addressing the media here, Bommai said the biggest challenge before his government is to give matching grants for the schemes announced which will be done in the state budget to be presented on February 17.
He further said that the Central assistance of Rs 5,300 crore announced for the Upper Bhadra Project will come without any conditions. Bommai said that as per the State Government’s expectations, the Union Budget presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has stressed on priority sectors like rural development, agriculture, Railways and infrastructure along with housing and irrigation.
“Our demand was to get more grants for sectors like agriculture financing and rural infrastructure which we have got. Also, we had asked for priority to be given to rural infrastructure. This has been done through Jal Jeevan Mission and PM Awas Yojna,” Bommai said.
On the Mekedatu project, the CM said the then Congress government committed a mistake in the initial stage of preparing the Detailed Project Report (DPR). “When they prepared the DPR, they had said there was no issue... but now it is before the Supreme Court. We have allocated funds for the project. If the Supreme Court allows (to go ahead with the project) and if we get approval for DPR, we will take up the work,” he said.
The CM also said the Union Budget has increased grants to several schemes. “Skill development for youth was one of our concerns... the budget has given priority to it. It also allocated Rs 2.4 lakh crore for Railways. Also, the allocation for MGNREGA has not decreased. Such steps will help Karnataka,” he said.
On Namma Metro works, Bommai said that the government is preparing DPR for Phase-4 which will provide Metro service to rural areas of Bengaluru. Bommai also hailed the budget for sanctioning Rs 5,300 crore in assistance for the Upper Bhadra Project. There was a demand for the project since the 1960s, but was initiated during the BJP regime led by BS Yediyurappa in 2008, he added.
Hitting out at the Opposition’s apprehension regarding the announcement in the budget, Bommai said the Upper Bhadra project has a status ‘national project’ today, and without any conditions Rs 5,300 crore has been allocated for it in the budget by the Modi government.