Chief Minister Siddaramaiah
Credit: DH Photo
Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday sought an action plan before July 15 to spend Rs 5,000 crore for the development of Kalyana Karnataka, which may include a proposal to start 41 all-women degree colleges in the backward region.
The directive came at a meeting of the Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board (KKRDB) chaired by Siddaramaiah.
The Kalyana Karnataka region — Bidar, Ballari, Vijayanagara, Kalaburagi, Koppal, Raichur and Yadgir — enjoys special status under Article 371(J) of the Constitution.
Siddaramaiah has earmarked Rs 5,000 crore in the 2024-25 budget for Kalyana Karnataka.
At the meeting, he said more emphasis should be given to education, healthcare and job creation.
"Programmes must be such that there is improvement in development indicators, especially human development index. The Kalyana Karnataka region is extremely backward on the human development index," Siddaramaiah noted, according to a release from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO).
"It has been decided to spend 25% of the grant by declaring two years as one academic year," the CMO said.
KKRDB chairperson Dr Ajay Singh pointed out that there is demand for primary health centres (PHCs). The CM sought a proposal on setting up PHCs as per prescribed norms.
"Emphasis should be laid on those areas that are lagging behind. Emphasis should also be placed on infrastructure development at hostels, anganwadi centres and residential schools," Siddaramaiah said.
Since inception, the KKRDB has received Rs 14,228 crore as grants of which Rs 10,342.90 crore has been spent. "Available grants should be spent on priority areas such as roads, drinking water, irrigation and other infrastructure," the CM said.
In 2023-24, the government gave Rs 3,000 crore to the KKRDB and Rs 2,009.53 crore was spent.
Till date, 35,724 works have been approved and 26,418 of them have been completed. In 2023-24, out of 6,468 works, 136 have been completed and 3,226 works are in progress. Singh told the meeting that 3,106 works are yet to start.
"Progress of pending works should happen regularly and any bottlenecks in implementation must be removed," Siddaramaiah said, adding that 3,528 pending works should be started by July-end.
The Congress, in its election manifesto, promised 41 women's degree colleges. Siddaramaiah directed authorities to work towards setting them up. He also asked officials to look at developing schools in the region using Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds.