Hassan: Lamenting the drastic cut in grants for the state from Rs 11,000 crore to Rs 8,000 crore by the 14th Planning Commission, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said he had brought it to the notice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the recent Neeti Ayog meeting in Delhi.
Laying the foundation stone of the Prakrit University at Shravanabelagola, Hassan and various development works scheduled for the upcoming Mahamastakabhisheka here in February 2018, he said the Centre had refused to release funds for the popular Jain event held once every 12 years .
“Union Minister for Finance Arun Jaitley has advised the state to make use of the grants released by the 14th Planning Commission for it. But there is a huge reduction of grants,” he regretted, adding that he would write to the Centre to reconsider its decision on release of funds for the Mahamastakabhisheka, which was expected to draw about 1.5 crore devotees owing to the new railway connectivity to Shravanabelagola from Bengaluru.
Vowing to make it to the Mahamastakabhisheka next year, he directd Hassan district in charge minister, A Manju to personally supervise the arrangements for it.
Janata Dal (S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda , who was also present, urged the Chief Minister to persuade the Union government to introduce a super-fast train service from Mangaluru to Chennai via Hassan and Bengaluru to help draw more industries to the region.
He also appealed to him to begin work on the airport in Hassan where about 580 acres had already been acquired for it. “The airport will help farmers of the region transport their produce to international markets,” he pointed out. Ministers A Manju and G Parameshwar were also present.
