Bidadi township should be developed on govt land, not at the cost of farmers: Bommai

Gadag: Former chief minister and Haveri MP Basavaraj Bommai suggested chief minister DK Shivakumar not to make township that will affect farmers. Instead, the satellite township should be developed on govt lands with all necessary facilities, he said.Speaking to the media here on Tuesday, Bommai said that the govt has sufficient land to utilise. “We too had plans to develop satellite towns. There are about 2,000 acres of govt land available in Kolar and Chikkaballapur, and we had considered developing there the township there. There are already several clusters, colleges, and universities. CM should not treat it as a prestige issue, but to ensure that farmers are not troubled in any way to create a system of their own by developing a satellite township on govt land with all facilities,” he added.Responding to a question about deficient monsoon rains in the state, he said, “If a drought is declared first, the next processes can begin. My primary demand to the state govt is to conduct a survey and declare drought at the earliest. Only then can compensation be provided for crop losses and assistance from the Centre be sought,” he said.On questions regarding employment and GIPR/GR schemes, he said the chief minister is heavily promoting it as his own programme.

“Registering at the national level alone will not create employment. What they are claiming as a first-of-its-kind initiative is not new. The union govt has already created such a portal connecting job seekers and job providers, through which, about 4.5 million people have already found jobs.

The state govt is merely copying a central scheme,” he added.On the NEET exam controversy, he said that earlier, question paper leaks did not happen at this level. “Such leaks occurred during previous govts in some states and during the UPA regime. Now, the fault is not with the union govt. A few individuals acted out of greed. Action has already been taken—officials and agencies involved have been jailed. For the first time, such swift action and systemic improvements are being made.

The recent mock NEET was also successful. If anyone has corrected mistakes and punished the guilty, it is the BJP-led union govt,” he claimed.