Mangaluru, Nov 4 : The Karnataka government will set apart Rs 20 crore for developing and upgrading the basic infrastructure at Baikampady industrial zone on the city outskirts, state Minister for Large and Medium industries K J George has said.

Paucity of land was the problem encountered in the zone, he told reporters after a meeting of stakeholders of Kanara Small Industries Association (KSIA) at Baikampady Saturday.

A total of 543 acres acquired for a steel company was under litigation and the government was to apprise the court soon of the demand from small industrialists, he said.

The government had provided 160 acres of land for Coast Guard training centre besides assuring 50 acres for setting up a base of Rapid Action Force in the area, he said.

The Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) had submitted a proposal seeking Rs 59 crore for development of infrastructure which will be taken up in a phased manner, he said.

George said the KSIAs demand to allot the acquired land for MSMEs, electronic hardware park, logistics park and other projects was under consideration.

The KSIA had been asked to submit a concrete proposal including private players willing to develop industrial parks which could be submitted before court.

The minister said the government had set up K-tech innovation hub in the city, which is a Product Start-up Incubator-cum-Common Instrumentation Facility.'

The aim of the hub was to encourage innovation, stimulate entrepreneurship, help in creating technology-based start-ups, provide employment and fuel economic growth, he added.

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New Delhi, Oct 24: The sports ministry on Thursday announced the discontinuation of the Dhyan Chand Award for lifetime achievement from this year onwards and the introduction of the Arjuna Award Lifetime in its place in a bid to "rationalise" the various sporting honours of the country.

Instituted in 2002, the Dhyan Chand Lifetime Award, named after hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chand, is given to individuals in disciplines that are part of the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games, among others.

In 2023, the award was given to former shuttler Manjusha Kanwar, ex-hockey exponent Vineet Kumar and kabaddi player Kavitha Selvaraj.

"The various schemes for sports awards have been rationalised wherein Arjuna Award (Lifetime) has been introduced in place of Dhyan Chand Award. To recognise the efforts of coaches at grassroots/development level, they are now eligible for the Dronacharya Award," said a ministry statement.

"The Arjuna Award (Lifetime) has been introduced and will be given for life time contribution to sports development.

"Further, to recognize the Khelo India scheme, the Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy will be given to the University for Overall Top Performance in Khelo India University Games," it added.

The last date for applying for the national sports awards for 2024 is November 14.