Minister Bommai says State govt. will promote integrated development of coastal districts

Mangalore Today News Network

Udupi, Jan 27, 2020: Home Minister and district in-charge Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Sunday that the State government wanted to promote integrated development of the coastal districts.

 

He was delivering the Republic Day message after unfurling the national flag at the Republic Day celebrations organised by the district administration here. Mr. Bommai said that the government would give importance to upgrading fisheries harbours in the coastal districts as part of this integrated development. The connectivity between the coastal region and the hinterland would be improved through building of roads, improvement of power lines and others.

The intention was to improve the export potential of the State. Fishermen in the coastal districts would be provided with better boats and equipment in a bid to promote fisheries, he said. Stating that the government intends to promote tourism in the coastal districts, he said that the tourism potential of the coastal districts in the State had not been exploited when compared to that of the neighbouring States.

The government would give priority to promoting temple tourism, nature tourism and health tourism. “We want to attract not just tourists from across the country but also abroad,” he said.Mr. Bommai said that a lot of infrastructure had got damaged due to heavy rain during the monsoon. An amount of Rs. 29 crore was released from the Panchayat Raj Department to carry out repair works.

The construction of vented dams had been taken up by the Minor Irrigation Department at a cost of Rs. 50 crore. Under the Prime Minister’s Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, a farmer was being given an income support of Rs. 10,000 per year — Rs. 6,000 from the Union government and Rs. 4,000 from State government — to farmers, he said.As many as 1.39 lakh farmers are benefiting from the Yojana. An amount of Rs. 157 crore had been released for the development of 194 km of roads in the district. As many as 1.9 lakh farmers had been given below the poverty line (BPL) cards.Funds had been made available for the development of towns such as Udupi, Kundapur, Karkala, Kaup, Byndoor and Saligrama under the State Finance Commission, Mr. Bommai said.Raghupati Bhat, MLA, Dinakar Babu, President of Zilla Panchayat, Neeta Gururaj, President of Udupi Taluk Panchayat, were present.‘Fishermen in the three coastal districts would be provided with better boats and equipment in a bid to boost fisheries’