D K Shivakumar at the Kail Muhurtha Jambara programme in Bengaluru. Supplied photograph.
Bengaluru: D K Shivakumar has pitched longer loan tenures as a way to help residents of coastal Karnataka and Malnad build tourism businesses in their hometowns, saying the regional tourism policy provides an opportunity to extend five-to-six-year bank loans to as long as 20 years.
Speaking at the Kail Muhurtha Jambara 2026 programme at the Kodagu Gowda Samaja hall in Ullal, Bengaluru, on Sunday, October 4, he said the aim was to give local entrepreneurs financial strength and reduce the need to leave their villages in search of work.
Mangaluru meeting with entrepreneurs planned
Shivakumar said he would return to Mangaluru for discussions with entrepreneurs and invite members of the community to participate. He urged residents to build businesses and assets themselves by drawing on the region’s natural resources, coffee, spices and cultural heritage.
He said a recent special Cabinet meeting in Mangaluru had taken up a separate tourism policy for the coastal and Malnad regions. The government wanted to develop tourism along Karnataka’s 327-km coastline, taking inspiration from Goa and Kerala, while improving infrastructure, he said.
Temple tourism and Kodagu’s heritage
Shivakumar said the Cabinet had decided to provide 10 acres in Mangaluru to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams for a temple. He linked the proposal to the region’s existing religious destinations, including Kukke Subrahmanya, Kollur Mookambika, Kateel and Dharmasthala.
Praising Kodagu’s contribution to the armed forces, sport and cultural life, he urged the community to preserve its traditions. He also referred to drought conditions and said he was awaiting rainfall to replenish lakes and the KRS reservoir. Annual Cauvery aarti celebrations would continue, he said.
Community requests and voting rights
Shivakumar said he had asked legislators A S Ponnanna and Manthar Gowda to place a Mysuru land request before the Cabinet, and promised to examine other community demands. Describing the two legislators as Kodagu’s “two eyes”, he appealed to the gathering to support them.
He also called for protection of eligible voters’ names during electoral-roll revision, while allowing corrections involving duplicate entries and deceased voters. Voting rights were a constitutional source of strength, he said.
On Dasara, Shivakumar said efforts were being made to include Army, Navy and Air Force personnel, artists and different communities in the procession. The community’s traditions would also be represented, he said.
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