Rs. 10,000 cr. will be spent each year for the next five years: Chief Minister

The State government is planning to allocate Rs. 50,000 crore to complete all irrigation projects in the State in the next five years, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said in Mysore on Wednesday.
Addressing a rally at the Maharaja College ground, he said Rs. 10,000 crore would be spent each year for the next five years to complete these projects.
Mr. Siddaramaiah was in Mysore to inaugurate various projects, including the mini Vidhana Soudha (taken up at a cost of Rs. 9.45 crore), and launch several development works. He inaugurated the post-matric hostels for girls at Lalbahadur Shastri Nagar (Rs. 98.5 lakh), Shantaveri Gopala Gowda Nagar (Rs. 98.5 lakh) and Bogadi (1.11 crore); a library at Ramakrishnanagar (Rs. 12 lakh), launched a drinking water scheme that will cover 30 villages (Rs. 27.65 crore); and launched work on the district Krishik Samaja building (Rs. 10 lakh) by unveiling a plaque.
Benefits distributed
He distributed benefits to several women under the ‘Manasvini’ scheme and power tillers to farmers. The State government was contemplating constituting an Agriculture Commission to ensure remunerative prices for farm produce, Mr. Siddaramaiah said. He reiterated the Congress government’s commitment to uplifting the poor, and backward sections of society and added that he announced six major programmes within half an hour of assuming office. The Anna Bhagya scheme was being successfully implemented in the State for the last four months, he noted. The government planned to bring ragi, jowar and wheat under the purview of the scheme.
‘Phased manner’
He said that a perspective plan to ensure all-round development of Mysore city, keeping in view the infrastructure needs for the next 50 years while initiating measures to retain the heritage tag of the city, would be drawn up. “Mysore city will be developed in a phased manner,” he said. The government had granted Rs. 100 crore to develop Mysore city this year. A sum of Rs. 1,292 crore had been sought under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme to take up various projects to beautify Mysore, Mr. Siddaramaiah said. As far as drinking water was concerned, water from the Cauvery and Kabini would be fully utilised to ensure round-the-clock water supply to the city.
A Rs. 246-crore scheme for water supply that would also meet the drinking water needs of 399 villages in Mysore district had been drawn up, he said.