Cabinet panel to look into govt holidays in Karnataka

The Karnataka cabinet Monday decided to constitute a cabinet sub-committee to look into possible changes in government holidays in view of growing opinion against such vacation on grounds that it affected public work.

The cabinet which approved 21 days of generalholidays for 2019 for various festivals and other events decided to form the sub-committee to discuss about the nature, number of holidays and the occasions for holidays among others, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said.

There wasgrowing discussion about increase in government holidays andfalling number of working days. Also, officials were of the view that the holidays be given during the weekend, which would help them inspending time with their families, he said.

The committee had been asked to submit a report, he told reporters here.

According to official sources, there had been suggestions to restrict the government holidays to important nationaldays, doing away with birth anniversaries of various personalities and giving an additional Saturday off in addition to the existing holiday on second Saturdays.

The cabinet paid tributes to Union Minister Ananth Kumar, who passed away on November 12.

It decided to bear the land acquisition cost of about Rs 4,500 crore for the 65-km peripheral ring road around the city to overcome traffic congestion.

The project was long pending as no agencywas willing to foot the bill for land acquisition, he said, adding the cabinet decision was taken after exhausting all other means.

According to the state government's estimate, total expenditure for the project, including land acquisition of about 1,810 acre, was expected to be about Rs 17,000 crore.

The cabinet decided to go vertical by adapting ground plus fourteen floors model, instead of ground plus three floors model, under the Chief Minister's one Lakh Housing Project with an intention of benefiting more people in the limited space available in cities.

For modernising the police under "SmartPolicing programme", Rs 32.89 crore had been approved, Gowdasaid.

The cabinet also decided to bring inan amendment to the Lokayuka act to authorise the Upalokayuta to take up cases, if the Lokayukta recuses himself from any case.