Karnataka to come out with sugarcane revenues sharing formula in a month

Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar said here on Sunday that the committee appointed to fix the fair price for sugarcane in the state is expected to submit its report in a month.

Speaking after inaugurating the Krishi Mela here on Sunday, Shettar said the committee had been asked to evolve a policy where the sugar factory owners and the sugarcane growers share the revenue.

This would help solve the problems faced by sugarcane growers and factories. The government wants a permanent, long-term solution to the problem and the committee has been asked to find a way, he said.

Stating that the focus of his government would be on preventing large-scale emigration from the agriculture sector to urban areas, he said better infrastructure would be provided in villages and agriculture be made a viable occupation. The government would include another 1,000 villages under the Suvarna Grama Yojana and spend Rs 1 crore on each village to provide infrastructure, he said. Already, 3,300 villages are under SGY.

 

Shettar said the report of Paramashivaiah committee on streamlining the flow of Benne Halla in Dharwad district and Doni river in Bijapur district would be placed before the Cabinet at its next meeting and a final decision would be taken. The two streams are creating havoc during rainy season and causing heavy loss to life and property during heavy rains.

Earlier in the day, Shettar flayed the Centre for not keeping its word on releasing funds under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) to Karnataka.

He was speaking at the inauguration of various works under the National Rural Drinking water programme at Gumagol and Morab villages in Navalgund taluk of Dharwad district last Saturday. He said Union minister Jairam Ramesh had promised to release funds under PMGSY to Karnataka for construction of 2,000 km of rural roads in June but so far nothing had come from the Centre.

He said Karnataka stood second in the country in successful implementation of PMGSY but the Centre was meting out injustice to it though the state was ready to contribute 25 per cent to the cost. Nevertheless, he said the state government would go ahead with construction of rural roads under CMGSY.

Speaking to reporters, the CM said the state is mulling at the possibility of scrapping the taluk panchayats and retaining only Gram Panchayat and Zilla Panchayat under Panchayat Raj system. However, this can be done only after a Constitutional amendment, he said.