BANGALORE: The State Government is thinking of building a complex in Belgaum on the lines of the Vidhana Soudha to hold regular sessions of the legislature.

Minister for Public Works and Energy H.D. Revanna, who chaired a high-level meeting with top officials of the Public Works Department (PWD) here on Wednesday, told presspersons that the PWD and the Revenue departments would together find land for the building.

The building would resemble the Vidhana Soudha, which was built in 1956 by the then Chief Minister Kengal Hanumanthaiya.

Mr. Revanna was in Belgaum to review the works undertaken by the Public Works Department in connection with the session of the legislature beginning September 25. Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who mooted the idea of holding a special session of the legislature in Belgaum, was keen on holding regular sessions of the legislature in Belgaum, he said.

Referring to the plan to improve the network of highways crisscrossing the State, Mr. Revanna said the State Government would be submitting a proposal to the Centre to convert the Chennai-Mangalore stretch of the road into a four-lane national highway.

Karnataka wanted to link NH 4 (Chennai-Pune) with NH 48, which would serve as a four-lane link between the two major ports of Chennai and Mangalore. Such a link would benefit Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala. He and Mr. Kumaraswamy had spoken to Union Minister T.R. Baalu in this connection.

A Central study team recently visited the Hassan-Mangalore section of NH 48, which is in bad shape. The State had requested the Centre to concrete certain sections in the Shiradi Ghats. As an immediate relief, the Centre had given Rs. 2 crore for the repair of this stretch of the road.

Power connections

Mr. Revanna said the Centre had granted Rs. 400 crore to the State for electrification of the houses of people living below the poverty line.

The State had submitted an elaborate plan to provide electricity to 54 lakh homes and of this the Centre had so far approved a third of the plan.

On the status of the construction of buildings for six new medical colleges in the State, Mr. Revanna said under the first phase of the construction plan (estimated cost of Rs. 120 crore), the buildings would be ready in two months. This would enable the colleges to conduct the first year of the MBBS course.

Roads in Mysore

The PWD was geared up for asphalting 51 km of roads in Mysore in connection with the Dasara festival at a cost of Rs. 9 crore. About Rs. 36 crore would be spent on the asphalting of 147 km of roads in Mysore district (roads linking Talakad) in connection with the "panchalinga darshana." Over 20 lakh people were expected to visit Talakad for the programme.

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