Karnataka - Shimoga   

Development schemes may be revived

CELEBRATIONS: BJP enthusiasts bursting crackers at Ameer Ahmed Circle in Shimoga on Monday after their leader B.S. Yeddyurappa assumed the office of Chief Minister in Bangalore.

SHIMOGA: Many development works taken up in Shimoga district during the Janata Dal (Secular)-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition Government which were in a state of neglect in the wake of the political uncertainty in October are expected to be revived now with B.S. Yeddyurappa taking oath as Chief Minister in Bangalore on Monday.

With this, the dream envisioned by Mr. Yeddyurappa as Deputy Chief Minister to make Shimoga a model district is expected to be fulfilled sooner than expected.

Shimoga district did not see such development activities as it did in the last 20 months and it has been possible because of the initiative taken by Mr. Yeddyurappa as Minister in-charge of the district.

However, the projects came to a grinding halt as fast as they were launched by the Government. It is said that the development works taken up at an estimated cost of about Rs. 100 crore are in a state of limbo.

The major casualties on account of the political uncertainty have been the construction of the new bridge across the Tunga at an estimated cost of Rs. 7 crore, the project to lay concrete on Bangalore-Honnavar Road from the old Tunga bridge to the bus stand at an estimated cost of Rs. 22 crore, the railway overbridge near the railway station on Honnali Road at an estimated cost of Rs. 15 crore, the construction of Suvarna Karnataka Samskrutika Bhavan, the expansion of the private bus stand and renovation of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus stand at a cost of Rs. 20 crore.

Work is yet to start on the Mini Vidhana Soudha proposed at a cost of Rs. 5 crore after the demolition of the old Deputy Commissioner’s office.

Similarly, work to expand the private bus stand and renovate the KSRTC bus stand has been tardy. While renovation is going on at the KSRTC bus stand at a slow pace, the work to expand the private bus stand is yet to begin although the Government has given its administrative clearance and released funds for it.

The people’s concern is whether development works launched with much fanfare would see the light of the day in the changed political circumstances with Mr. Yeddyurappa being at the helm of affairs.

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