Regional balance as well as academic excellence in making new IITs and IIESTs

Mangalore Oct 21: Though the Union Railway Minister announced Mangalore-Bangalore and Mangalore-Mysore train schedules seven months ago in the budget, the trains have not started the service. In fact, the railway lines are yet to be laid in some stretches, lamented Medical Education Minister Dr V S Acharya.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday, he said a delegation comprising of MLAs and MPs of undivided Dakshina Kannada district under the leadership of Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa will meet the Union Ministers and officials concerned from the railways and National Highway to discuss the problems of roads and railways in the first week of November, he said.

Stating that the National Highways maintained by the Centre have become unmotorable owing to lack of maintenance, he cited the examples of NH 17, NH 48, NH 63 and NH 13 which are in bad condition. In addition, as many as six bridges between Kundapur and Mangalore are in poor condition which is also affecting the movement of traffic, he added.

Membership

Dr Acharya said new members have been enrolled to the Party and the membership has crossed 72,000 in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts. Party Committee in the 10 constituencies of Dakshina Kannada and nine constituencies of Udupi district will be formed by the end of October. Later, election will be held for the District Committee President and Vice-Presidents post.

The membership is renewed once in three years, he added.

NITK

Dr Acharya also urged the Centre to give the IIT status to the Regional Engineering College at Surathkal. The regional engineering colleges of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have got the IIT status while the NITK has been neglected, he flayed.

Gutka

Speaking on the occasion, State BJP President D V Sadananda Gowda said the addiction to gutka was not due to arecanut, but due to the presence of harmful ingredients in it.

The government should ban the harmful ingredients in it and not gutka. Areca Growers Co-operative Society will hold a meeting in Bangalore on October 27 to urge the Centre not to ban gutkha. He said all the peoples representatives of nine areca growing districts will participate in the meet.

Banning of gutka will force areac farmers to commit suicide in the State, Mr Gowda added.

Beedi

Mr Gowda said that the Centre is planning to issue a notification to suspend beedi rolling. The notification also urges the beedi manufacturing units to produce it in machines and to be sold in a box like cigarettes. The government has already issued a notice to beedi company owners in this regard.

The notification will have an impact on the lives of 10 lakh beedi workers. He urged the beedi workers not to be panic and assured to provide all the possible help to them. Beedi industry should be exempted from the VAT, he added. District-in-Charge Minister B Nagaraj Shetty, MLAs Yogish Bhat, Krishna J Palemar, Padmanabha Kottari, Prabhakar Ba-ngera, Lalalji Mendon, Raghupathi Bhat, State Finance Commission Chairman A G Kodgi were present.

DHNS

# posted by chitta @ 12:42 PM