“Construction work on four government medical college buildings in the State will be speeded up,” Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said in Haveri on Sunday.
He was speaking to reporters after inspecting the Haveri Medical College building on the outskirts of the city.
“Senior officials are inspecting all works. We want work on all these college and hostel buildings to be completed in time. Only then, we will make payments to contractors,” he said.
“Work on the Haveri college will also be speeded up,” he added.
To a query, he said that there is no scarcity of rice for OBC hostels. “We are providing rice and other material to all hostels in time. There is no problem,” he said.
To a query on the reappointment of a Tahsildar who was caught by Lokayukta Police while he was accepting bribe, the Chief Minister said that he will look into the issue. “Who said that there is no corruption in government? We are making efforts to see that corruption is reduced,” he said.
He said that investigation has been ordered against illegal sand trade on the banks of the Tungabhadra in many places in Haveri district. “Strict action will be taken against the offenders,” he said.
To a query on his reported statement that minorities have the first claim on the country’s resources, he said that every citizen, including the deprived ones, has an equal right. “Each one of the 140 crore people of the country has a right to its resources,” he said.
He criticised the Union government for failing to release funds due to Karnataka. “We have given two memoranda to Union Ministers in the last five months. Karnataka suffered ₹35,000 crore crop loss and we have sought ₹18,171 crore as the Centre’s share in compensation. But we have not received even a rupee till now,” he said.
