PM Modi in Mangaluru on Friday to inaugurate and lay foundation for Rs 3,800 cr projects
Mangaluru, Sep 1: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in this coastal city on Friday afternoon during which he will inaugurate and lay the foundation for mechanisation and industrialisation projects worth around Rs 3,800 crore and address a mega event.
This visit by Modi for about a couple of hours to this port city, after attending events in neighbouring Kerala, is likely to give a boost to the Karnataka BJP, which is preparing for Assembly polls next year, aiming to regain power in the state, with a target of winning at least 150 of the total 224 seats.
According to party and official sources, the Prime Minister is scheduled to arrive at the Mangaluru International Airport at around 1:30 PM, from where he will fly to New Mangaluru Port Authority (NMPA) premises at Panambur by a chopper, and after inaugurating or laying foundation to various projects, he will arrive at the Goldfinch city grounds here, to attend an official public event.
Nearly two lakh people are likely to attend the event at Goldfinch city grounds, they said, in addition to one lakh workers of the BJP, the district administration is also said to have invited about 70,000 beneficiaries of various Union government welfare schemes to the programme.
Party workers and beneficiaries of government programmes are likely to come from various parts of Dakshina Kannada district and neighbouring Udupi.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines Prahlad Joshi, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shobha Karandlaje, a host of state Ministers, BJP legislators and leaders are likely to participate in the event.
Police have made elaborate security arrangements in the city for the PM's visit.
The visit to Mangaluru in Dakshina Kannada district is seen as significant after recent incidents of "communal" murders including that of BJP activist Praveen Nettar near here, which triggered widespread protests and spate of resignations by some of its Yuva Morcha members and workers at various places across Karnataka, accusing the state government of not standing up to protect the lives of Hindu 'Karyakartas'.
Several Hindutva ideologues and organisations too had expressed their angst against the government, reflecting similar sentiments.
The visit is also at the time when the BJP government is facing corruption charges of "40 per cent commission" in public works by the state contractors' association, and also allegations of irregularities in several departments by certain organisations and opposition parties, especially the Congress.
The projects that PM will inaugurate or lay foundation tomorrow include: Inauguration the project worth over Rs 280 crore for mechanisation of Berth No. 14 for handling containers and other cargo, undertaken by the New Mangalore Port Authority; lay the foundation stone of five projects worth around Rs 1,000 crore, undertaken by the Port.
He will also inaugurate two projects undertaken by Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited viz BS VI Upgradation Project and Sea Water Desalination Plant, worth Rs 1,830 crore and Rs 680 crore respectively.
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Centre rejects claims of diluting Aravalli protections, says 90% of range will remain safeguarded
New Delhi: Union Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Minister Bhupendra Yadav refuted claims that the Centre had weakened safeguards for the Aravalli hills, saying that the government is still steadfast in its commitment to protecting the delicate ecosystem and that almost 90% of the Aravalli landscape will remain protected.
Responding to growing criticism over a revised definition of the Aravalli range, Yadav said on Sunday misinformation was being spread about the changes, as reported by Hindustan Times. He clarified that the Aravalli system extends across four states- Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat and has been under judicial scrutiny for decades, with a related petition pending before the courts since 1985.
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Addressing concerns around the “100-metre” criterion, the minister said it was being widely misunderstood. He explained that the figure does not refer to the top 100 metres of a hill, but to the entire vertical spread of the hill from top to bottom. He added that gaps between two hill ranges would also be treated as part of the Aravalli system. With this interpretation, he said, nearly 90 per cent of the region would fall within the protected zone.
Yadav emphasised that mining activities would remain under strict regulation. He said the total Aravalli area spans around 1.47 lakh square kilometres, of which only about 217 square kilometres, roughly two per cent, has been identified as eligible for mining. Even within this limited area, he noted, the Supreme Court has directed that a sustainable mining management plan be prepared, following which clearance from the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education would be mandatory before any activity could begin.
The minister further underlined that mining is entirely prohibited in the Delhi portion of the Aravallis and that all existing protected areas and forest reserves in the capital would remain unchanged. He also referred to the Centre’s Green Aravalli programme, which has been underway for the past two years, and said the government was being portrayed unfairly through what he described as a false narrative.
Opposition parties like the Congress and the Samajwadi Party expressed concern over the potential ecological impact of the revised definition. Critics have warned that any kind of weakened protection could have long-term consequences for biodiversity, air quality and climate resilience in north India.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, in a post on X, linked the survival of the Aravalli range directly to the future of Delhi and the National Capital Region, calling the hills a natural shield against pollution and environmental degradation. He warned that continued damage to the range would worsen air quality, biodiversity loss and extreme temperatures, with severe consequences for public health, particularly for children, the elderly and the sick.
