Friday, Apr 19, 2002
Friday, Apr 19, 2002 |
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Karnataka
By Our Special Correspondent
R.V.Deshpande, Minister for Large and Medium Industries, who is also the Chairman of the Cabinet Sub-committee on tourism, who briefed the Press about the Cabinet meeting, said that having realised the enormous potential the tourism sector had, the Government was going in for infrastructure development. Some of the projects cleared at today's meeting include Palace-on-Wheels, night safari in Bannerghatta National Park, development of Badami, Pattadakal, and Aihole, improving Brindavan Gardens and the Jog Falls and other historical sites. The Cabinet, he said, took note of the influx of business travellers to Bangalore and had decided to make Bangalore the tourism hub. Various activities, including cultural, which could be tagged onto tourism, would be encouraged. In its bid to attract tourists, the Government has decided to make taxes applicable on actual room rates and not on the rack rates. At present, in Karnataka taxes were levied on room rates, which did not encourage hotels to give discounts. He said with this, hotels would fall in line with a system that was in vogue in other parts of the country. He said the Cabinet had decided to hand over unused bungalows to private enterprise to allow tourists to stay in them. This, he said, would not only enable tourists to find accommodation, it would also fetch revenue to the Government. The Government would be asking various departments such as Irrigation, Forest, Public Works, and others to identify such bungalows, which they could do without.
Hampi
He said the Government was keen on developing Hampi for which it was seeking the Centre's cooperation. The Union Secretary would be visiting Karnataka on April 23 to meet the Chief Secretary to work out plans for preserving archaeological importance of Hampi. To improve air traffic, the Government had decided to improve the existing airstrips at Bidar, Hubli, Belgaum, Harihar, Mysore, Gulbarga, and Bellary and also go in for new ones in Bijapur, Raichur, Karwar, Shimoga, Kodagu, and Hassan. When it was pointed out that the existing airstrips had been underutilised, he said there was a need to create infrastructure and provide various concessions for air traffic to improve.
Games complex
The Minister for Information and Publicity, Shivanna, said the Cabinet had taken a decision to dispose of the remaining 900-odd flats (of the 2,534 built) at the rate of Rs. 1,000 per square foot. The Government was reducing the rate per square foot from Rs. 1,500 to Rs. 1,000 as the real estate market had stabilised. The Government had constructed these flats at a cost of Rs. 270 crores, but did not find takers as they were priced exorbitantly. The Cabinet decided to introduce voluntary retirement scheme in Mysore Cosmetics Limited, which was incurring losses and to encourage biogas units in the State. The Government had set a target of over six lakhs biogas units in the State, but only 2.79 lakhs units were ready. To encourage biogas units, the Government had decided to enhance the subsidy limit for installation of biogas units (subsidy of Rs. 1,500 from Rs.700 for a biogas unit of Rs. 6,500 and a subsidy of Rs. 3,500 from Rs. 2,300 for a unit of Rs. 8,000). The Government agreed to the representation made by Ramakrishna Mission Home to reduce the lease amount from Rs. one lakh to Rs. 25,000 a month for the property it had leased in Belgaum.
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