BANGALORE: The Government has taken a historic decision to hold the winter session of the legislature for five days in Belgaum in the last week of September.

Briefing presspersons after a marathon Cabinet meeting here on Wednesday, Home Minister M.P. Prakash said that the Government had consulted Speaker Krishna on the issue over phone. It would also consult acting Chairman of the Legislative Council Sachhidanad L. Khot. Mr. Krishna was of the opinion that the session could be convened after September 24, he added.

An official committee constituted to look into the pros and cons of holding a session in Belgaum and to recommend the venue for the purpose had submitted its report, Mr. Prakash said.

It had recommended that the Kumara Gandharva auditorium and KLE Society's Jawaharlal Nehru auditorium would come in handy for holding the Assembly and Council sessions respectively.

It had also identified lodging and boarding facilities for Ministers, legislators, officials and presspersons, Mr. Prakash said. Asked whether the decision was permanent, Mr. Prakash said that the Government would look into that aspect after assessing the outcome of proposed session. He said that it was time for the Union Government to respond to a suggestion made by the late Ramakrshina Hegde, former Chief Minister and Union Minister, that a Parliament session should be convened in any State in the southern part of the country.

Flood relief

Mr. Prakash said that the Cabinet had given its consent to release Rs. 156 crore for relief work in the drought- and flood-affected areas.

It had also cleared the release of an additional Rs. 5 crore for providing drinking water in the affected areas. It had fixed the compensation for flood affected dry-land crop loss at Rs. 800 and wetland crop loss at Rs. 1,000 for each acre, he added.

The Cabinet had approved the proposal for creation of Greater Bangalore and decided to bring in amendments to the Karnataka Municipal Act for increasing the number of councillors in the Bangalore Mahanagare Palike from 100 to 150 for the purpose.

It had also been decided to entrust the development of five satellite towns — Anekal, Hoskote, Magadi, Malur and Kanakapura — to the Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority, he said.

The Cabinet had decided to constitute a subcommittee to recommend measures to develop 408 acres of land the Government had retained at the Bangalore International Airport, which was coming up near Devanahalli. The Cabinet authorised Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa to look into the possibility of laying a fast railway track between Byappanahalli and the international airport, which was under construction.

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