Ramanagara: Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said the government will earmark funds for the Mekedatu project in the next budget and will try to bring a legal amendment at the Belagavi session to allow the Kannada flag to be flown alongside the national flag.
He was speaking on Thursday, November 5, after inaugurating the Kannada Rajyotsava celebration, unveiling a statue of Nadaprabhu Kempegowda and opening the new hall of the city municipal council at the junior college ground in Ramanagara.
On Mekedatu, he said the Supreme Court has allowed the project to go ahead as a result of his fight. He said the process of providing alternative forest land is under way, the budget will carry the required funds, and the Mekedatu project office has started functioning. “No one can stop Karnataka’s right,” he said.
On the flag, he said the red and yellow colours are symbols of the pride and unity of Karnataka, and that an amendment to let the Kannada flag be hoisted beside the national flag would be tried at the Belagavi session. “If language survives, culture survives; if culture survives, the land survives,” he said.
Shivakumar said four medical colleges are being built in Bengaluru South district, which he said is the only district in the country with four. He said Rs 2,000 crore was given for irrigation when he was Deputy Chief Minister, and that milk plants worth Rs 1,400 crore have been set up at Shivanahalli in Kanakapura and at Ramanagara. He said milk prices were raised by Rs 7 a litre, of which Re 1 goes to milk producers’ cooperative societies.
For the development of Ramanagara town, he said, a Rs 500 crore plan was drawn up last year, 100 acres have been identified and the aim is to complete the allotment of sites within a year. He also said 25 to 30 schools are planned at panchayat centres, with some schools costing Rs 12 crore to Rs 15 crore, and that every taluk will get a school with international-level facilities.
On the question of renaming the district, he said Ramanagara will remain the central town and that people’s sentiments will be respected. He said the government is committed to peace and communal harmony in Channapatna, Ramanagara, Kanakapura and Magadi.
Minister H C Balakrishna, MLA C P Yogeshwar, MLC S Ravi, State Guarantee Schemes Implementation Committee chairman H M Revanna, former MLA C M Lingappa and city municipal council president K Seshadri were among those present.
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