MYSURU: Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday said his government will present a pro-people budget on February 17, like he did last year . Attending the Krishi Mela in Mysuru, he said a leopard task force, similar to the elephant task force, will be set up for the entire state. “This task force will be permanent. I have held meetings with forest officials and have instructed them to take villagers into confidence and deploy forest staff to monitor the situation,” he added. He said there is a need to boost the confidence of residents living on the fringes of forests after increased number of leopard attacks, especially in T Narasipur taluk.
On Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah assuring voters that ‘Shaadi Bhagya’ would be resumed if Congress is voted to power, Bommai said, “We will not stop them. But Congress will not return to power again.”
He also gave hints of a new agriculture policy and changes proposed in farm loans. “There is a need to calculate profit and loss on the mean cost basis and based on the input cost and profit. We need to create such a market for farmers and we are considering how the loan limit can be increased in this budget,” he said.
The Yashaswini scheme introduced during former chief minister SM Krishna’s government will be brought back in the interest of farmers. Under the the Raitha Shakti programme, Rs 500 crore will be earmarked for machinery and diesel, he added.
CM MEETS PADMA AWARDEES FROM MYSURU
CM Basavaraj Bommai called on Padma awardees, including novelist SL Bhyrappa, who have been selected for the Padma awards recently. The CM visited the residence of Bhyrappa and congratulated him on getting Padma Bhushan. He later interacted with the writer and spoke about diverse topics for about 15 minu-tes, including on the leadership of PM Narendra Modi. Later, he dro-ve to the residence of ‘Millet Man’ Dr Khader Valli and archaeologist S Subaraman who have been conferred with Padma Shri.