K’taka clears projects worth Rs 3,400 crore, Bengaluru division given major share

Chikkaballapura: The Karnataka Cabinet, in a meeting held atop the Nandi Hills here, on Wednesday approved development projects worth Rs 3,400 crores, of which Rs 2,050 crores were earmarked for districts falling under Bengaluru division alone, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said.

A key decision taken at the meeting was to rename Bangalore City University as Dr Manmohan Singh Bengaluru City University, in honour of the former Prime Minister, as proposed in the Budget.

The Cabinet meeting was held atop the Nandi Hills here under Bengaluru division, as per the government’s decision to hold such meetings in all the four revenue divisions of the state.

“We discussed and took decisions on 90 per cent of the subjects related to the Bengaluru division in this cabinet meeting. Projects or development works worth Rs 3,400 crores were approved, and out of this Rs 2,050 crores were for Bengaluru division alone,” Siddaramaiah told reporters after the meeting.

Subjects related to education, health, drinking water, irrigation, lake filling projects were mainly deliberated and cleared by the cabinet, he added.

Deputy CM DK Shivakumar announced the formation of a Cabinet Sub-Committee under the chairmanship of Law Minister HK Patil to review the progress of the probe into illegal mining, recommend further steps to be taken, and submit a report to the government in a month’s time.

Referring to the Yettinahole project, the CM clarified it is primarily a drinking water project, and filling the lakes is secondary. The Cabinet decided to first complete the project to provide drinking water to needy areas of Kolar, Chikkaballapura, Bengaluru Rural, Tumakuru, and Hassan districts in two years.

Noting that drinking water will be provided to 75 lakh people in 9 districts under this project, he said, out of 24.1 TMC of water, 14 TMC is required for drinking water.

A revised estimate of Rs 23,251 crores has been made for the Yettinahole Project, of which Rs 17,147 crores have been spent so far, Siddaramaiah further said, while overall about Rs 8,000 crore is required for completing the remaining project work, about Rs 6,000 crore is remaining

after spending.