Minister MB Patil asks officers for proposal on land acquisition for Chikkamagaluru airstrip
Bengaluru: Infrastructure Development Minister MB Patil has directed the concerned officials to submit to the Cabinet a proposal for the Rs 17.6 crore required to acquire land for construction of an airstrip in Chikkamagaluru.
The airstrips for Chikkamagaluru and Kodagu district were announced in the 2023–24 state budget. Patil, who held a meeting on Thursday, told the officials to present the proposal in the next Cabinet meeting, reports Deccan Herald.
The minister has said that the Chikkamagaluru district administration has already provided 137 acres of land, located between Chikkamagaluru and Hiremagaluru, for the proposed airstrip. The stretch includes 120 acres of land belonging to the government, while the remaining 17.1 acres of land are privately owned and need to be acquired. Patil added that, of the total acquisition cost of Rs 24.6 crore, Rs 7 crore has already been sanctioned and Rs 17.6 crore is pending for release.
The Karnataka State Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (KSIIDC) has been directed to release the remaining funds. Also, the Finance Department will be handed the proposal before presenting it before the Cabinet, Patil has said.
A heliport is also being planned on the site, said Patil, stressing that the infrastructure provided should have the capacity to handle large aircrafts in future. A team of experts from KSIIDC will be deployed to identify adjoining sites that can be acquired for the projects, he added.
In reference to the proposed airstrip in Kodagu, Patil said that officials have been asked to resolve the land acquisition issues at the earliest and to identify suitable land for the project.
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Rahul Gandhi should've been allowed to quote Naravane's 'memoir' in LS: Sharad Pawar
Baramati (PTI): NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said that Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi should have been allowed in the Lok Sabha to quote from an unpublished "memoir" of former Army chief MM Naravane.
The controversy on the memoir, 'Four Stars of Destiny', centres on the events of the Indo-China stand-off in 2020.
A row erupted in the Lok Sabha on Monday after Gandhi sought to quote from the unpublished "memoir" of former Army chief Naravane, but Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, along with other BJP members, strongly opposed it and accused the Congress leader of "misleading" the House.
Pawar said Gandhi "should have been allowed" to speak on the subject in Parliament during the Budget session.
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"If the former Army chief has written something and if the leader of the opposition is saying something, then it is his (Gandhi's) right and he should have been given that opportunity," the Rajya Sabha member said at a press conference in Baramati.
He said that an atmosphere of suspicion should not prevail unnecessarily in the country.
"The former Army chief has written something in the book which shows there was some concerning situation. If a discussion had taken place in Parliament on the issue, people could have got a clear picture," Pawar said.
Though the book is unpublished, Gandhi held a copy of it and the Lok Sabha speaker asked to authenticate the copy, he noted. "Why was there opposition (to Gandhi) when the copy was authenticated?" Pawar asked.
Gandhi on Wednesday cited the unpublished "memoir" to claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not fulfil his responsibility during the India-China conflict in 2020 and passed the buck on to Naravane.
Addressing reporters in the premises of Parliament House complex, Gandhi held up Naravane's unpublished "memoir" and said he would like the youngsters in India to know that this 'book' exists despite the government claiming otherwise.
He said Naravane has written the full account of what happened in Ladakh.
Gandhi has also written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, lodging his strong protest over being disallowed from speaking in the House on a matter of national security and terming it a "blot on our democracy".
He has also said that it was for the first time in history that LoP was not allowed to speak on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address.
