Karnataka

Vision 2020 document to focus on drinking water

BANGALORE: The State Government’s Vision 2020 document, which will be released soon, would focus on rural drinking water, bio-fuel, roads, and health, D.H. Shankaramurthy, Deputy Chairman, State Planning Board, has said.

Speaking to presspersons here Wednesday, he said that the document would unveil plans of the Government for the growth of different sectors in the State till 2020.

The document would outline plans for utilisation of surface water from various sources.

Approximately Rs. 50,000 crore would be required to provide surface water to all residents of the State.

The Union Government too had been liberally funding surface water projects.

The vision document envisaged providing 100 litres of water to each person per day.

The Union Government did not utilise nearly Rs. 40,000 crore earmarked for surface water projects in 2007-08 as many States did not avail themselves of the facility, Mr. Shankaramurthy said.

The document would focus on measures to be taken for promoting projects to produce bio-fuel that could be an alternative to petrol and diesel.

A bio-fuel board comprising experts would be constituted soon, the Deputy Chairman said.

The Government had already constituted a Bio-fuel Task Force headed by Y.B. Ramakrishna of Samagra Vikas of Bangalore with 14 members.

Farmers would be encouraged to plant “honge” (pongamia) and jatropha-kaadu haralu (jatropha curcas) saplings on wastelands .

Nearly 70 per cent of the land in the State was dry of which wasteland comprised 35 per cent.

The vision document would also give thrust to development of roads both in rural and urban areas.

A large number of villages in the State did not have road connectivity while roads in urban areas were substandard, the Deputy Chairman said.

A first meeting of all members of the Planning Board would be held on Friday.

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