The Hindu : Centre takes credit for airport project

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 23, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Centre takes credit for airport project

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, FEB. 22. There has been a three-fold increase in the number of telephone lines and impressive progress in the construction of national highways in the State during the National Democratic Alliance rule at the Centre, according to a booklet by the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. In what appears to be an attempt to pre-empt the Congress from alleging that the Centre has given a raw deal to the State, during the election campaign, the Ministry has come out with a list of projects assisted by it in the State. Among the projects are the proposed Devanahalli international airport cleared in January, which is described in the booklet as a new investment in the State, and the expansion and development of the railways.

The Ministry has noted that 26 per cent of the investment in the airport project will be by the State Government and the Airports Authority of India. Siemens of Germany will hold the balance 74 per cent stake. On the civil aviation front, the major development work taken up by the Centre is the construction of an integrated terminal building to handle 600 international passengers and 700 domestic passengers at the Bangalore airport at a cost of Rs. 21.83 crore. A mono-pulse secondary surveillance radar has been installed at the Mangalore airport at a cost of Rs. 30 crore.

However, the major investment by the Centre is in the development of railways with 22 projects, estimated at Rs. 5,675 crore, being taken up. These included laying of new lines, gauge conversion, and doubling of tracks. Three of the projects have been completed. It says another impressive contribution of the Centre to the State is in the construction of national highways. "In the last five years, the Union Government has added 1,619 km. to the National Highway network in the State." The length of the network in the State has gone up to 3,728 km. as against 2,109 km. in 1997. Besides that, the Centre has provided Rs. 616 crore to the State for maintenance and improvement of the network. Under the Golden Quadrilateral project, 105 km. of the proposed 723 km. of the highway has been completed. Work is in progress on 552 km. The cost of the project is Rs. 2,550 crore. Under the project to improve connectivity to major ports, 38 km. of National Highways 48 and 17 to the New Mangalore Port will be widened to four lanes.

According to the Ministry, the telecom scenario in the State witnessed a sea change with more than 29 lakh new connections added during the last four-and-a-half years. The number of telephone connections went up from 15.41 lakh in March 1999 to 44.79 lakh in September 2003. The capacity of the telephone exchanges has gone up from 17.15 lakh lines to 37.32 lakh lines during the period.

In the matter of irrigation, the Ministry says the Centre mediated to resolve the Cauvery water dispute involving the State and Tamil Nadu. The Centre's loan assistance to the State under the accelerated irrigation benefit programme has been of the order of Rs. 1,251 crore in the past five years. The Union Ministry of Water Resources persuaded the State Government to promote participatory irrigation management in the State. As a result, 934 water users' associations have been formed and this has helped irrigate 414 hectares of land.

Sixteen major irrigation projects in the State have been included in the Tenth Five-Year Plan. The major ones among them are Upper Krishna Stage I (Rs. 3,785 crore), Hemavathy (Rs. 2,484 crore), Kabini (Rs. 1,207 crore), Upper Tunga (Rs. 877 crore), Singatallur (Rs. 595 crore), and Malaprabha (Rs. 603 crore).

Karnataka has been able to create the second highest foodgrain storage capacity of 62,810 tonnes among the States. The Centre provided Rs. 14.26 crore for the construction of godowns, and this is next only to the assistance provided to Andhra Pradesh.

For the midday meal scheme, the Centre provided 1.53 lakh tonnes of foodgrains during 2002-03. The off-take was 1.17 lakh tonnes.

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