K'taka cabinet approves Rs 5 000 cr borrowing for KIADB bifurcates Hubballi-Dharwad Corpn

Bengaluru, Jan 2 (PTI) The Karnataka cabinet on Thursday decided to increase the borrowing limit of the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) from financial institutions from Rs 500 crore to Rs 5,000 crore.
    Briefing reporters after the cabinet meeting, Karnataka Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil said the decision was made because KIADB is acquiring 28,741 acres of land for the development of 24 industrial areas across the state.
    Patil added that developing these industrial areas would require at least Rs 32,380 crore, including Rs 26,505 crore for land acquisition.
    The cabinet also decided to bifurcate the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation and create a separate urban local body to govern Dharwad city.
    Hubballi-Dharwad Mahanagara Palike currently exists. Dharwad is known as Karnataka's cultural centre, the Karmabhoomi of four Jnanpith award winners—D R Bendre, V K Gokak, Girish Karnad, and it is also called Vidya Kashi. Today, the cabinet decided to create a separate Mahanagara Palike for Dharwad, Patil said.
    "It will be done immediately, following the necessary technicalities and legal procedures," he added.
    The cabinet also granted administrative approval to strengthen the existing 14 Goshalas, Patil said.
    “We are not cancelling the new Goshalas, but we are allocating Rs 10.5 crore for strengthening the 14 existing ones,” he added.
    According to Patil, work had begun on 35 new Goshalas, of which 14 have been completed. The government is focusing on strengthening these existing ones.
    The cabinet also decided to cancel the third phase of the white topping of roads within Bengaluru's municipal limits, Patil said.
    Contracts were awarded, but the project was cancelled because work could not commence, leading to the cancellation of the tenders, the minister added.
    He further noted that the total cost for white topping 92 roads covering 119 km was estimated at Rs 1,172 crore.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)