Bengaluru: The Karnataka government may be forced to cut spending on key sectors such as education, healthcare, and urban development in order to fund the ambitious Rs 75,000-crore Upper Krishna Project (UKP), according to an internal note from the state’s finance department, cited by Deccan Herald on Thursday.
The UKP will require an additional expenditure of Rs 75,000 crore over the next four years, roughly Rs 18,000 crore annually, based on new compensation rates approved by the Cabinet for acquisition of 1.33 lakh acres.
According to the internal note which DH said it reviewed, the finance department stated that money for the project could be raised by implementing a 20% cut in the Rs 80,197 crore developmental outlay (excluding ‘guarantee’ schemes and committed expenditure), which would free up Rs 16,039 crore. These cuts would impact department-wise allocations for education, health, urban development, and other sectors.
Alternatively, if developmental allocations are not reduced, the state may have to scale down some of its flagship initiatives. This includes revisiting allocations under the government’s ‘guarantee’ schemes and subsidies for irrigation pump sets. This year alone, Rs 51,034 crore has been allocated towards guarantee schemes. To bridge the gap, around Rs 15,000 crore could be redirected from these programs, the report added.
Under the UKP, the height of the Almatti Dam will be raised to irrigate 5.94 lakh hectares in Vijayapura, Bagalkot, Raichur, Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Koppal and Gadag districts, making it a significant project for north Karnataka.
Fund cuts are the only way forward as resource mobilisation reportedly seems unviable. The finance department mentioned that Karnataka recorded a revenue shortfall of Rs 7,413 crore in the first five months of the current fiscal year. The state is also expected to lose Rs 6,000 crore due to GST rationalisation and an additional Rs 3,000 crore in mining tax revenue, as President Draupadi Murmu has not approved the enabling law.
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Moscow (PTI): At least six people, including four Indians students, were injured on Saturday in a stabbing attack at a university in Russia's Bashkortostan Republic, media reports and the Indian mission here said.
According to preliminary reports, a teenager armed with a knife entered a dormitory of the State Medical University in Ufa in the Bashkortostan Republic. He attacked the students living there and stabbed several of them, the Interior Ministry said.
“The attacker resisted arrest, during which two police officers were stabbed. Furthermore, the suspect also inflicted bodily harm on himself,” Interior Ministry spokesperson Maj General Irina Volk was quoted as saying by RTVI.com webportal.
Calling it an "unfortunate incident", the Indian Embassy here said, "Several persons including four Indian students have been injured."
The Embassy said it is in touch with the authorities, and officials from the Consulate in Kazan are en route to Ufa to provide assistance to the injured students.
In a release, the Russian Federal Health Ministry said that four people injured in the attack are receiving medical care. One is in serious condition, while three others are in moderate condition, it added.
The attacker, identified as a 15-year-old youth, has also been admitted to a local children's hospital in serious condition, the Baza telegram channel said.
Authorities in Ufa, the capital of the Bashkortostan Republic about 1,200 km east of Moscow, have launched a high-level probe into the incident.
The Baza channel claimed that the attacker belonged to a banned neo-Nazi outfit.
"He belonged to the banned NS/WP neoNazi organisation. During the frenzy of attack, he was shouting nationalist slogans about (the) Holocaust,” it said and shared the photo of a Swastika drawn on a wall with the blood of the victims.
According to eyewitnesses, “there was blood all around,” Ren TV said, showing footage of wounded being taken to hospital by ambulance vans.
