Rs 98 crore for drinking water projects in Belgaum

Source: Times of India

BELGAUM: The central government has approved a grant of Rs 98 crore to undertake drinking water projects in the district for 2012-13 under the National Rural Drinking Water Project.
ZP president Iranna Kadadi told journalists here on Saturday that the government had increased the approved budget this year from Rs 74.84 crore last year.

He said that the works like laying new pipelines, exchanging pipelines, constructing overhead tanks and developing water storage systems in rural area will be taken under this project.
Officials are already engaged in preparing an action plan for the project, which will be submitted to the government shortly, the ZP president added.

Gulbarga to host MSMI investors' meet on May 28

Source: The Hindu

MoUs worth Rs. 10,000 crore expected to be signed

Sharing information:Minister for Small-Scale Industries Narasimha Nayak addressing a press conference in Gulbarga on Sunday. Commissioner of the Industries Maheshwara Rao isseen.— Photo: Arun Kulkarni

The State government will host an investors' meet for micro-, small- and medium-scale industries (MSMI) in Gulbarga to explore the investment potential in Gulbarga Revenue division covering Gulbarga, Raichur, Bellary, Bidar, Yadgir and Koppal district on May 28.

Briefing presspersons after chairing a preliminary meeting with representatives of trade and industry in Gulbarga on Sunday, Minister for Small-Scale Industries Narasimha Nayak and Commissioner of Industries Maheshwara Rao said Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda would inaugurate the investors' meet here on May 28. Minister for Major Industries Murugesh Nirani would also participate.

Mr. Nayak said he expected that at the meet, Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) would be signed with potential investors for investments worth Rs. 10,000 crore in Gulbarga.

He said the investors' meet was part of the Global Investors' Meet (GIM) to be held in Bangalore on June 7 and 8. While the GIM in Bangalore would deal with investment in major industries, the investors' meet held at the divisional headquarters would tap potential investment in MSMIs.

Mr. Nayak said the investors' meets for MSMI held in other parts of Karnataka including Mysore, Mangalore, Hubli-Dharwad and Belgaum were an unprecedented success, with the government signing MoUs worth several thousand crores.

At the investors' meet held in Mysore on May 4, MoUs worth more than Rs. 10,000 crore were signed; at the meet held in Hubli in March, MoUs worth Rs. 4,800 crore were signed, and at the meets held in Belgaum and Mangalore, MoU's worth Rs. 2,000 crore and Rs. 1,500 crore respectively were signed.

To a question, Mr Nayak said that investment opportunities in MSMIs was very high in the state and it had remained untapped all these years and the investors meet had helped the state to tap this potential and create more employment avenues with the opening of new industries in the tier II cities.

Mr. Nayak said Gulbarga had good potential in the MSMI sector, and the State government was confident of inviting investors from the neighbouring State of Andhra Pradesh to invest in the pharmaceutical and other industrial hubs in the Gulbarga region.

The government would set up a common effluent plant in Yadgir for the proposed pharmaceutical hub in Yadgir district.

In Gulbarga, a jewellery park was proposed to be set up along with the textile park and other industries.

[Bidar] Cattle bank in Surpur, says KMF chief

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/article3392261.ece

Cows and buffaloes bred here will be sold to poor women at subsidised rates, says Somashekara Reddy

Big plans:Karnataka Milk Federation Chairman G. Somashekara Reddy inaugurating a new milk packaging unit in Bidar on Sunday.— Photo: Gopichand T.

The Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) will start a cattle bank in Surpur in Yadgir district to breed high-quality cows and buffaloes and give them to poor women, KMF Chairman Gali Somashekara Reddy has said.

He was speaking at the inauguration of the upgraded Bidar dairy and packaging unit here on Sunday.

Best breeds

We would get the best breeds from around the world and rear them at the bank. The cattle would then be sold at subsidised prices to poor women. This would not only give them a source of livelihood, but also increase milk production potential, he said.

“If a milch animal costs between Rs. 30,000 and 40,000 in the market, we would sell it for Rs. 10,000 to Rs 15,000,” he said. The KMF would tie up with banks and cooperative institutions to help women get easy loans to buy cattle, he said. The Bidar District Central Cooperative Bank, he said, had decided to give set aside Rs. 15 crore for this programme.

The work on building a cattle breeding and maintenance farm on 120 acres along the Krishna in Surpur was in progress and would be completed in two or three months, Mr. Reddy said.

“We plan to invite Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda to inaugurate the centre,” he added.

With 48 lakh litres being produced every day, Karnataka is the second-largest producer of milk in India.

“The State is now aiming at being the leader in milk production. We have plans to take milk production to 70 lakh litres a day in the next five to six years. We are taking several steps towards this, including providing a cash incentive of Rs. 3 a litre of buffalo milk, in addition to the Rs. 2 cash incentive given by the State government to farmers on every litre of milk sold to the KMF,” he said.

Cooperatives

The federation would provide a grant of Rs. 2 lakh to construct buildings for milk producers' cooperative societies, he said. “Our dream is to have milk societies in every village.” The KMF would consider the demand for job security to the staff of societies.

The Bidar-Gulbarga milk union should focus on procuring more milk from farmers. “The union collects only around 50,000 litres a day, but we need to work towards a target of 3 lakh litres a day. If the procurement reaches 1-1.5 lakh litres, then we will set up an ice-cream unit in these regions,” he said. The KMF would set up a water plant to provide water to the Bidar dairy.

‘No irregularities'

He denied allegations made by the former KMF chairman H.D Revanna that there were large-scale irregularities in the federation. Without naming Mr. Revanna, Mr. Reddy said he was making such allegations because he was “jealous”. “He has asked for a CBI inquiry. I am ready for any inquiry,” he said. “If I am found to have cheated farmers or misused funds, I will resign,” he added.

He urged Animal Husbandry Minister Revu Naik Belamagi to transfer community grazing lands in villages to the KMF so that it could cultivate fodder crops and distribute green grass and fodder among cattle rearers.

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‘KMF will tie up with banks, cooperative institutions to help women get loans'

‘Work on cattle breeding and maintenance farm in Surpur will be completed within three months'

NWKRTC may shift new Hubli bus-stand

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/article3386374.ece


The plan is to move it from Gokul Road to Hosur

Improvement ahead?:Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Jagadish Shettar inaugurating the newly formed Dharwad division of the North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation in Dharwad on Friday.

The North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) is planning to shift the new Hubli bus-stand from Gokul Road to Hosur, according to Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Jagadish Shettar.

Speaking after inaugurating the newly formed NWKRTC Dharwad division here on Friday, Mr. Shettar said if the plan worked out, the new bus-stand would be shifted to the premises of the Hubli depot at Hosur, and the depot to Gokul Road. The Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) proposed for Hubli-Dharwad had necessitated this change, which would be convenient for passengers, he added.

Facelift

The Cabinet had given its approval to BRTS, under which bus-stands and terminals would get a facelift. A team of local legislators and others recently visited Ahmedabad to study BRTS, which had been working there for the last three years.

It could be used as a model for Hubli-Dharwad with certain modifications, the Minister said.

Mr. Shettar said efforts were on to convince the Union government to sanction projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for Hubli-Dharwad. As the population of Hubli-Dharwad had reached 10 lakh, the city was eligible for it, he said.

NWKRTC chairman Mallikarjun Sawkar said the new division would include Dharwad, Saundatti, Dandeli and Haliyal depots. A new bus depot would also be set up near the new central bus-stand in Dharwad, for which the district administration had provided three acres.

He said the NWKRTC had made profits this year. It would get 700 more buses and improve services to rural and urban areas.

The NWKRTC would introduce 20 additional buses between Hubli and Dharwad, and these buses would start from new points in various layouts and interior areas that had no bus connectivity. Plans were on to improve the city bus terminus, old bus-stand and new bus-stand in Hubli and Dharwad, he said.

‘Improve connectivity'

Chandrakant Bellad, Hubli-Dharwad West MLA, urged the authorities to introduce air-conditioned Volvo buses from Dharwad to Bangalore and to Pune. He demanded that mini-bus terminals be set up in the extension areas, with direct buses to different localities.

NWKRTC Managing Director Hemaraju said there was a need for a workshop for the division, and the NWKRTC was ready to set it up if a minimum of five acres was provided within two or three km of the divisional office.

He said Rs. 5 crore would be released to clear the arrears of retired employees this month.

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Cabinet gives nod for Bus Rapid Transport System: Shettar

Centre urged to sanction projects for Hubli-Dharwad under JNNURM

Clearance for SEZ near Hubli may be given soon

Source: The Hindu

The Union Government is considering giving clearance for the setting up of a special economic zone (SEZ) on information technology and IT-enabled services at Gamanagatti near Hubli.

Assurance given

An assurance in this regard has been given by Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma when Dharwad MP Pralhad Joshi met him in New Delhi recently.

In a release issued here, Mr. Joshi said that the Union Minister gave this assurance when they met during the budget session recently.

It might be recalled that the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) is developing 12.15 hectares of land at Gamanagatti for a SEZ.

Mr. Joshi said that the proposal had been pending before the Union Government for the last two years.

He said that the SEZ Board of Approval of the Union Ministry of Commerce had approved the proposal at its meeting held on May 31, 2011. However, the Home Ministry's approval was essential and therefore the final approval was getting delayed.

He said that he had requested Mr. Sharma to exempt the SEZ in Hubli from getting approval from the Home Ministry and Mr. Sharma had assured him that he would issue the notification approving the SEZ soon.

[Hubli] Aayakar Seva Kendra to ease taxpayers' woes

Source: The Hindu

With the Income Tax Department setting up ‘Aayakar Seva Kendra' (ASK) here, the city has become one of 60 cities across the country to have such a facility.

Hubli is the third city in the State after Bangalore and Mangalore to have this facility, which aims to address the grievances of taxpayers at the earliest.

The ASK has been set up on the premises of the Income Tax Office at Navanagar here. It has begun operations and has been catering for the needs of taxpayers since the last few days.

Modernisation

According to B.L. Meena, Commissioner of Income Tax, Hubli, the initiative is part of modernisation programmes nationwide, such as e-filing of returns, e-payment of taxes, centralised processing of returns, online tax accounting system and refund banker scheme, for the convenience of tax payers.

Terming it a “milestone”, Mr. Meena said: “Aayakar Seva Kendra is a computerised, single-window system for taxpayers for delivery of services in a time-bound manner, as promised by the Income Tax Department in its Citizens Charter published in 2007.”

Facilities

The official said the kendra was user friendly.

All applications including income tax returns would be processed here, and system-generated acknowledgement numbers issued for easy monitoring of applications.

“The kendra's ultimate aim is to promote and encourage voluntary compliance through providing better taxpayer services,” Mr. Meena added.

NRI to set up Rs 10cr auto unit in Dharwad

Source: Times of India

HUBLI: It's a call of the motherland for Ravi Harsoor, an NRI hailing from Gulbarga and settled in the US, who has come forward to set up an auto ancillary unit in north Karnataka and contribute his bit to the industrial development of the region.

At the North Karnataka Investors' Meet held here on Monday, Harsoor expressed his intent to set up an auto ancillary unit at Belur industrial area in Dharwad at a cost of Rs 10 crore. It will be a pilot project and based on the response, the NRI plans to expand it further.

Born and brought up in Gulbarga, Ravi Harsoor is an engineering graduate settled in America for the past 18 years. He worked for a few years at the Tata Consultancy Services in Mumbai before moving on to the US.

Speaking to TOI about his project, Ravi said he was waiting for some opportunity to set up an industrial unit in north Karnataka. It came in the form of the North Karnataka Investors' Meet.

"I was invited by the industries ministry to attend the meet. I decided to tap the potential of the region in the auto sector," he said.

"If the pilot project takes off well, we are keen on setting up a permanent auto ancillary establishment investing Rs 50 crore more," he said.

Two of Harsoor friends, Virupannavar and Goutam Chopra are also joining hands with him in this venture.

Now, the team is in the process of identifying land in Belur and finding prospective buyers.

They plan to start the unit by the end of December.

Harsoor is running real estate and health care projects in the US. He is also owns a BPO in Mysore.