From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore

Bangalore, Oct 29: As many as 57 Valmiki Bhavans will be constructed in different districts at a total cost of Rs 51 crore, Karnataka Chief Minister Jagdish Shettar announced on Monday.

Addressing the poet-savant Valmiki’s birth anniversary, the chief minister said the state government would release the necessary funds and asked the officials to expedite construction of the Valmiki Bhavans.

The state government has built a mega Valmiki Bhavan at a cost of Rs 7 crore at Banashankari in Bangalore in honour of the author of the epic Ramayana, he said.

Shettar said the state government has taken several steps to safeguard and promote the interests of the backward Valmiki community, who have been predominant in the districts of Bellary, Chitradurga, Haveri, Gadag and Davangere.

The eligible candidates from the Valmiki community have been included in the reservation category to avail the benefits of quota system in admissions to professional courses and in government employment, including Grade 'A’ posts in the districts where the community is predominant, he said.

The BJP Government’s commitment to the upliftment of the Valmiki community is evident from the fact that the Valmiki Jayanti was declared as a public holiday in the State from 2010.

About 31,000 copies of Ramayana have been distributed to schools and colleges across the State to enable the people to benefit from the message in the epic, he said.

More than Rs 8,000 crore had been spent for the welfare of Scheduled Castes during the last four and half years of the BJP government, Shettar said.

Shettar underscored the need for implementation of former Law Minister L G Havanur’s report on backward classes in the State and said it was the basis for providing reservation to backward classes.
 

''New York Times Report Not an Insult"
 
Stung by the adverse report published by The New York Times daily in its October 26 edition, on the garbage disposal mess in Bangalore, under the headline, “India’s Plague, Trash, Drowns Its Garden City During Strike” said “a stinking mountain of trash, the landfill has been poisoning local waters and sickening nearby villagers of Mandur", was not an insult to the city or a cause for alarm. "Another dump site was in even worse shape before it was closed recently after violent protests,” Shettar said was not a snub to the city.

''Bangalore is not just the capital of India but is an international city,” he said explaining that there were some problems regarding the segregation of solid and wet waste and the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the other authorities were tackling the problem in all seriousness.

The Chief Minister said the State Government would hold discussions with the BBMP authorities and would make efforts to clear garbage spotted in all nook and corners of the City. ''We are very much alive to the garbage disposal problems in the city and would take all steps to solve them,” he added.