Poll ready, but we may still approach Supreme Court: CM Siddaramaiah

CHAMARAJNAGAR: The state government seems to be inclined to the idea of moving the Supreme Court on BBMP polls once again citing de-limitation on the basis of 2011 census though Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Tuesday that the ruling Congress is ready to face the elections.

Mr Siddaramaiah, who unveiled the foundation stone for Badanaguppe and Kellamballi industrial corridor spread over 1600 acres in Chamarajnagar district, told the media that he would seek the opinion of the Advocating General on moving the apex court. “The existing delimitation of BBMP is as per the census of 2001. Hence, the state SC/ST Commission had filed a writ petition in the high court seeking direction for delimitation as per census of 2011. We are yet to see copies of the high court order. We will consult the Advocate General on going to the Supreme Court on this issue,” he added.  

When asked about the high court’s decision to impose a cost of Rs 10,000 each to four petitioners on the state government, Mr Siddaramaiah said “I do not want to comment on that.” Later, the Chief Minister said Karnataka would create model industrial corridors with complete infrastructure in place in backward districts in an effort to attract more investors.

Mr Siddaramaiah, who visited this jinxed district for the eighth time to unveil the foundation stone for the industrial corridor, said “the state has come up with one of the most progressive industrial policy for 2014-19 and we have decided to set up model industrial corridors in all the backward districts, which are on tier two and tier three positions. While Chamarajnagar was indicated as one of the backward districts in Nanjudappa Commission report, we have decided to industrialise it, as it provides opportunities to as many as 25,000 to 30,000 people. We are planning to develop one in Yadgir too. While as much as 53 acres was in the state’s procession, we have purchased the rest of the land from farmers by paying them Rs 20 lakhs per acre. And, we are developing the infrastructure by putting up 220 Mega watt power station, and getting 25 MLD of water from Kaulande in Kabini.”

“We are leasing out each acre of land at the cost of Rs 39.50 lakhs for 99 years. We are reserving as much as 22.50 acres of land to SCs and STs and five per cent for women and minorities. While we did a road show in Coimbatore to attract investors for the corridor, we got as many as 300 investors who expressed interest to invest Rs 12,000 crores in the area. We have already allotted land to 17 companies and four companies have also signed MoUs,” he added.