Govt. to go ahead with bio-tech. park: Minister

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, SEPT. 28. The Minister for Agriculture, Mr. T. B. Jayachandra, today appealed to the students of the University of Agriculture Sciences (UAS), Bangalore, to call of their agitation as the bio- technology park on GKVK campus was being established keeping in mind the interests of the farmers and students.

He told presspersons here that the Government would go ahead with the decision of setting up the park on the campus. The decision would be ratified by the UAS Board at its meeting on Oct. 3. The Government, he said, had invoked special powers to hand over 100 acres of land belonging to the university to the Department of Information Technology.

He said abandoning the project would be ``suicidal'' for the State, particularly for the agriculture sector. The Government had decided to create a bio-technology corridor from the Mehkri Circle to the GKVK campus based on the recommendations of the Vision Group on Bio-technology. Only half of the 100 acres allocated would be utilised. The bio-diversity would be maintained on the remaining land. Twelve applicants including the Department of Information Technology and the Remote Sensing establishment had shown interest in the park.

The Director of the Department, Mr. M. Reddy, said the Vice- Chancellor of the UAS had shown four pieces of land to the Department to set up the park. The latter had selected one of them. Subsequently, the Principal Secretary, Agriculture, visited the spot and endorsed the decision.

He said the price for the land had not been fixed though it was handed over to the Department on Sept. 5. The Department, he said, started work on the park on Sept. 16. He denied that it had felled any tree there. The area had mostly eucalyptus plantation and shrubs.

Asked whether one of the Vision Group members was also an applicant for setting up units in the park, he said there was no bar on anyone to apply.

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Section  : Southern States
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