Bengaluru, 13 March

Karnataka Infrastructure Development Minister MB Patil on Friday said that the State government is formulating a civil aviation policy of its own, covering various aspects of the sector.

He also said that a meeting of public representatives from Ballari, Vijayanagara and Koppal districts will be held soon under Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's chairmanship, regarding the airport in the region, as he stressed that both feasibility and viability should be considered while determining the location for airports.

The Minister was replying to a question about Ballari airport, raised by Gangavathi MLA G Janardhana Reddy in the Legislative Assembly.

"We build airports, but after three years they get shut down. The situation is not only in our State, but it is across the country. We don't know the future of district airports. So I met the Union Civil Aviation Minister along with the Chief Minister with a request that the UDAN scheme be extended from three years to five years, and that for the subsequent five years the Centre and the state should jointly support operations in a 50:50 ratio," Patil said.

A meeting of public representatives from the three districts will soon be convened to deliberate on the merits and challenges of the project.

Stating that airports must be planned with foresight, otherwise, the same mistakes seen in Hubballi, Belagavi and Vijayapura would be repeated, Patil pointed out that the distance between Belagavi and Hubballi airports is only about 70 km.

DKS challenges BJP to move motion against guarantees

Taking a dig at the BJP for demanding a roll back of State government’s guarantee schemes, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Friday challenged the BJP to table a formal resolution in the Assembly to roll back the guarantee schemes.

During a discussion on the budget in the Legislative Assembly, BJP MLA Suresh Gowda who urged the government to stop all the guarantee schemes. Replying to him, the Deputy CM said, “You are a senior leader and the former CM and DyCM are also sitting with you. This is not your individual opinion but your Party’s opinion. We will certainly debate it, but let the BJP internally pass this resolution to roll back guarantees and table it in the House. Let us know within the Budget session itself.”

Meanwhile, when a BJP member, during the debate, commented that the DCM and CM don’t look at each other, the DCM intervened and said, “Some of my friends in BJP don’t get sleep or feel happy or get inspired if they don’t take my name. Hence, they keep taking my name always.”