From Our Special Correspoondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bangalore, Jun 26: Elated by the huge success of the Sadhana Samavesha to mark the completion of two years in office in Bangalore on Friday, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa left to meet farmers in Haveri and Bagalkot districts on Saturday morning and spent the whole day in studying the progress of the organic farming as well as implementation of the Asare scheme for
construction of houses for the flood affected people of Haveri and Bagalkot districts.
However, before leaving on his day-long tour of north Karnataka, the chief minister shot off a letter to Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee extending an invitation to her to inaugurate the train services between Shimoga and Anandapuram section in his home district of ``Shimoga-Anandapuram-Talaguppa (97 kms) section is under gauge conversion and I understand that the Shimoga - Anandapuram portion of the route of 57 kms has already been completed and is ready for trainservices,” Yeddyurappa said in a letter to Mamata Banerjee.
He pointed out that the section falls in Shimoga district, which is a backward district in Karnataka, and being in the malnad region is not well connected for meeting the needs of commuters, tourists and industry and railways have sanctioned this project
and taken up the gauge conversion work in 2002. Realizing the importance of this conversion, the State government has also agreed to cost share the project on 50:50 basis.
``So far my Government has provided Rs 97.54 crore for the project out of the anticipated total cost of Rs 225 crore. As immediate commissioning of the section will be of immense use to the people, I request you to commission the section and inaugurate the train services in this month or in the early part of the next month,” he said.
The Talguppa-Honnavar section is in an area where no railway line exists. This line is necessary to connect the dead end station of Talaguppa to Honnavar which is an existing station on the Konkan Railway.
“Survey for this project has been made repeatedly and I understand that recently an updating survey has been completed and report has been submitted to the Ministry of Railways. my (15-02-2010) I have agreed for cost sharing of this project also. I would request you to consider including this work in the ensuing budget, as this work would provide connectivity to the new port,” the Chief Minister said.
The chief minister had a series of programme in Haveri and Bagalkot districts, including review of the work on his pet theme of organic farming and the implementation of the Asare scheme for construction of houses for providing permanent shelter to the people affected by last year’s devastating floods.
In Bagalkot district, the chief minister visited the residence of Somalingayya M Ganachari of Shirol taluk and inspected his work on organic farming, aimed at reducing the use of chemical fertilisers to increase soil fertility and increase yield. He also had lunch at Ganachari’s residence.
Earlier, he was taken out in a procession in the taluk. He also inaugurated a first grade college in Mudhol taluk and inspected various products pertaining to organic farming.
In Haveri, the Government has decided to shift three villages of Haveri and Ranebennur taluks which have been constantly facing the danger of floods. While Mannur village is facing floods from the Varada river, Shakhara village of Haveri taluk and Mantur of Ranebennur taluk have been facing floods from Tungabhadra river.
Shankarananarayana Constructions and Tata Relief Committee have come forward to build houses in the three villages which are in various stages of implementation while Information and IT/BT minister Katta Subaramanya Naidu, who had been recently appointed by the chief minister as the minister in charge of the Asare scheme, had inaugurated a pilot project for providing shelter to the houseless in Jekinakatti village of Haveri district.