Karnataka CM inaugurates Kalaburagi airport
Bengaluru, Nov 22: Kalaburagi, a backward district of Karnataka, found a spot in the country's aviation map on Friday with Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa inaugurating a greenfield airport.
Spread over 740 acres, the airport has been built at a cost of Rs 230 crore.
It is aimed at catering to other neighbouring districts in North Karnataka.
Yediyurappa recalled how his previous government in 2008 had planned an airport in Kalaburagi but was delayed by 11 years.
The intention behind opening the airport in this part of Karnataka is to attract investments in Tier-2 and Tier 3 cities like Bidar, Hubballi, Dharwad, Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Raichur, Koppal, Ballari, Bagalkote, Belagavi, Bijapur, Gadag and Haveri, he said.
The chief minister said he was pretty sure that the infrastructure would improve the living standards of people as it will give thrust to trade, industrial and tourism activities and generate job for the residents.
The Kalyana Karnataka region (previously Hyderabad-Karnataka region) is among the most arid regions of India. Development of this region had become a mirage due to frequent droughts.
Of the 114 backward taluks of the state, 29 are in Kalyana Karnataka, Yediyurappa told the gathering.
The chief minister highlighted the various measures taken by his government to develop the region.
The three deputy chief ministers-- Govind Karjol, C N Ashwath Narayan and Laxman Savadi, besides state home minister Basavaraj Bommai and large and medium scale industries minister Jagadish Shettar were present.
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Rahul targets Jaishankar, says his silence is 'damning'
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday launched a fresh attack on External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, saying his silence on the number of aircraft India "lost" after Pakistan was "informed" about the military action under Operation Sindoor is "damning".
The Congress leader had earlier also targeted the government on the issue, suggesting that the Indian side informed Pakistan ahead of the military strikes on terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
"EAM Jaishankar's silence isn't just telling, it's damning. So I'll ask again: How many Indian aircraft did we lose because Pakistan knew?" he asked in a post on X.
"This wasn't a lapse. It was a crime. And the nation deserves the truth," Gandhi also said.
Gandhi had earlier shared an undated video clip of Jaishankar and wrote, "Informing Pakistan at the start of our attack was a crime. EAM has publicly admitted that GOI (government of India) did it."
"Who authorised it? How many aircraft did our air force lose as a result," the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha had asked.
The Ministry of External Affairs had described as "utter misrepresentation" claims that Jaishankar acknowledged that India alerted Pakistan before the launch of Operation Sindoor on May 7.
"The external affairs minister had stated that we had warned Pakistan at the start, which is clearly the early phase after Operation Sindoor's commencement," the external publicity (XP) division of the ministry said.
"This is being falsely represented as being before the commencement. This utter misrepresentation of facts is being called out," it said in a brief statement.
Under Operation Sindoor, India, on early May 7, destroyed nine terror infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir (PoK) in retaliation against the Pahalgam terror attack.
All subsequent retaliations by Pakistan were carried out under the operation.
The two sides reached an understanding on cessation of hostilities on May 10 after four days of confrontations.
