Belgaum: Nov 30, 2013 DHNS: The State government came under pressure from the ruling party as well as the Opposition members in the Assembly on Friday to seek more funds from Union Surface Transport Ministry for immediate repair of roads across the state.
Oscar Fernandes, who heads the ministry and hails from Karnataka, should be made to give primacy to his home state in allocation of funds, they said.
When the Opposition members were alleging that the state highways and district roads are in a pathetic condition, K R Ramesh Kumar (Cong) said that when the MPs from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were the ministers for railways and surface transport, their states witnessed tremendous growth in transport sector as huge funds were diverted to their homes states.
T R Balu and Venkataraman as union ministers did not hesitate to get lion’s share of the Central funds for their state. Now, an MP from Karnataka is the Surface Transport Minister and hence the state should get maximum benefit, he said.
Referring to earlier statement of Public Works Minister Dr H C Mahadevappa that the Centre has committed to release Rs 1,000 crore to Karnataka under the Central Road Funds (CRF), Kumar said, “Why only Rs 1,000 crore? Why not we ask the Centre to release Rs 5,000 crore? We should be assertive while requesting funds. We should fight for preferential treatment to the state when our people are at helm in Delhi,” he said.
Endorsing his views, Leader of the Opposition H D Kumaraswamy said that Tamil Nadu’s road and railway network are taken care of by the Central funds.
Hence, that state is able to distribute free television sets, rice and grinders to the poor. But, here, because of the Anna Bhagya scheme, other schemes have been suffering for want of funds.
The state should use its clout at the Centre to get funds for road works, he opined.
B S Yeddyurappa (KJP) said the government could take a delegation of legislators to meet the Union ministers from Karnataka and seek more funds for transport sector.
Earlier, Mahadevappa said the State has sought an additional Rs 1,000 crore from the Centre under the CRF. For the current year, Rs 138.06 crore has been released under the CRF. The Centre has asked the State to spend up to Rs 1,000 crore and later the same would be reimbursed.
He said that Rs 245 crore has been set aside for state highways maintenance and Rs 162.90 crore for district roads. As these funds are not sufficient to fill up potholes, another Rs 125 crore has been sought from the finance department.
The minister said the PWD owes Rs 1,220.90 crore to contractors as on October this year. The chief minister has been requested to release money to clear the dues, he added.
