VKS Public Challenge 1

To clear pending BPL cards soon...

Minister Sorake directs officials to distribute BPL cards soon

Udupi: Urban Development Minister Vinay Kumar Sorake has directed officials to clear problems with regard to below the poverty line (BPL) cards and distribute them immediately to beneficiaries. He was presiding over the Udupi Taluk-level Karnataka Development Programme meeting here on Tuesday.

Mr. Sorake said 1,556 persons, who applied for BPL cards in the taluk, had not got them. As a result of which, they were unable to get the benefit of other government schemes as well.

He said the wrong entries on some of the BPL cards should be corrected. He directed the Udupi tahsildar T.J. Guruprasad to call a meeting of officials of the Department of Food and Civil Supplies, National Informatics Centre and Panchayat Development Officers to thrash out the problem.

The pending cases for land regularisation should be solved immediately. The cases relating to people not having sites should be resolved in 15 days. The departments should work in coordination with one another to solve this problem, including those relating to implementation of the Matsyashraya scheme, Mr. Sorake said.

The officer from Agriculture Department said though the district should have got 984 mm of rainfall by now, it had got only 643 mm of rainfall. There was no shortage of seeds and fertilizers, he said.

The Minister directed the officials to provide immediate compensation to those who lost crops, or whose houses or property were damaged, or those who lost lives due to rains. Roads belonging to Zilla Panchayat and Public Works Department should be repaired immediately.

If the government hostels for poor students were filled in one place, they should be shifted to nearby hostels. Rs. 1.5 crore had been sanctioned for construction of new building for Morarji Desai Residential Hostel at Hirebettu village, Mr. Sorake said.

The Education Department official said text books had been given to 95 per cent school students. The process of distribution of uniforms was on, he said.

Provide better marketing facilities for farmers

Udupi: Urban Development Minister Vinay Kumar Sorake, said on Monday that it was necessary to provide better marketing facilities to farmers to sell their products.

Inaugurating the Udupi hobli-level agricultural campaign organised by the Zilla Panchayat along with agriculture and other related departments, here,Mr. Sorake said that farmers suffer as they do not get good price for their produce. A mechanism whereby the farmers can sell their produce is essential. It is also necessary to provide cold storage and food processing facilities for both agricultural and horticultural produce. "Besides fetching better price, such facilities will add value to the produce," he said.

A large section of the population in both the district still depends on agriculture, horticulture and dairy farming. However, agriculture and horticulture do not appeal to the younger generation. Even agriculture degree holders prefer white-collared jobs in the cities to ploughing their fields.

Though both the Union and State governments have launched several programmes for giving a fillip to agriculture, it did not have the desired impact. This is because of the gap between Government departments and the farmers.

“It is essential to encourage the farmers to take to mechanization of agriculture and inform them about new techniques to improve the yield of their crops. The government departments should go to the doorsteps of the farmers,” he said.

The departments should also provide both agricultural and horticultural farmers information about the diseases and the pests that could affect their crops and the measures that can be taken to prevent them. “Advance information about diseases and pests would go a long way in protecting the crop and benefit the farmers,” he said.

Water resources play an important role in helping the farmers. The district has a huge potential as far as water resources are concerned. This potential needs to be tapped. Since water and agriculture are inter-connected, the agriculture and watershed have been merged at the district and hobli-level for better coordination, a few years ago, Mr. Sorake said.

Ida Gibba D'Souza, Upendra Nayak, Zilla Panchayat members, Shobha S. Poojarti, Ganesh Kumar, Taluk Panchayat members, Anthony Maria Immanuel, Joint Director of Agriculture, M. Hanumanthappa, Associate Director of Zonal Agricultural and Horticultural Research Station, Jayalaxmi N. Hegde, Programme Coordinator of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, were present.

Bus services in remote villages

KSRTC will be told to start bus services in remote villages, says Sorake

Vinay Kumar Sorake, Urban Development Minister, presiding over the tri-monthly Karnataka Development Programme meeting in Udupi on Monday.

Vinay Kumar Sorake, Urban Development Minister, said on Monday that he had directed the district administration to immediately hold a meeting with the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) officials to start bus services in the remote areas of Kundapur taluk.

Briefing presspersons after the tri-monthly Karnataka Development Programme (KDP) meeting here, Mr. Sorake said that there was an opinion that the sexual assault and murder of a 17-year-old minor near Byndoor could have been prevented if bus services had been available to the village. Hence, KSRTC would be directed to give proposals for starting bus services to remote and interior villages of the taluk.

Since monsoon season had started, the district had geared up to meet contingencies due to heavy rainfall. So far, sea erosion had been reported from places including Maravanthe, Hungarcutta and Mulloor. Boulders were being put wherever necessary to prevent sea erosion. Already the government had released Rs. 2.5 crore for calamities relief, though the district had sought Rs. 4 crore, he said

The officials of the zilla panchayat, Public Works Department and National Highway had been told to keep the storm water drains clear.

A proposal had been sent to include 18 works under the Multi-Village Scheme (MVS) in the district. Already the MVS work had been completed in Hebri and Chara villages, Mr. Sorake said.

On the former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa’s demand on a probe on money spent on sea erosion, Mr. Sorake said that boulders were being put to prevent sea waves for decades including the period when Mr. Yeddyurappa was Chief Minister. A proposal had been sent to the Union government for the construction of permanent sea wall. “We are ready for any probe,” he said.

On the State Advisory Price (SAP) not being paid to cane growers, he said that the money had to be paid by owners of sugarcane factory to the cane growers. Nearly 70 per cent of sugarcane factory owners were leaders of BJP. “Mr. Yeddyurappa should use his good office and get them to pay it to the farmers,” he said.

On Minor Irrigation Minister Shivaraj Tangadgi’s alleged involvement in the controversy over the murder of a student, Mr. Sorake said that allegations should be backed by facts.

The government believed in transparency, he said. Gopal Poojary, Byndoor MLA, was present.

THE HINDU - UDUPI, June 23, 2015

Gram Panchayat polls 2015 - Udupi

Udupi: Hectic preparations on ahead of gram panchayat polls

Daijiworld Media Network—Udupi (HB) Udupi, May 26: Preparations for the village panchayat elections are on in full swing in Udupi district. The district authority is all set for the gram panchayat level election to be held on Friday May 29. There are 155 village panchayats in the district and the nomination process has been completed. There are a total of 7, 38, 608 voters in Udupi district of which 3, 53, 190 are men and 3, 85, 418 are women. There are 4,740 candidates contesting the election in the district of which 2, 229 are women and 2, 511 are men. Since 16 new village panchayats have been added, there are 75 more seats this year. The total reserved seats are 2, 398, out which 1,161 are for the general category and 1, 237 are for women. Approximately 159 seats are reserved for schedule caste women out of 186 scheduled caste seats and both men and women could contest for the remaining 27 seats. The total scheduled tribe reservation seats are 197, of which 166 seats are reserved for women and the remaining 31 are for both men and women. There are 582 reservation seats for ‘A’ category backward class candidates of which those 323 seats are for women while men and women could contest for the remaining 259 seats. There are 79 seats for women under reservation out of the 145 posts in backward class ‘B’ while men and women candidates could contest for the rest of the 66 seats. There are 1,288 seats in general class of which 510 are reserved for women and the rest of the 778 are open to all. A total of 131 poll stations are considered sensitive and 59 very sensitive, out of the 907 polling stations. As many as 54 polling stations are in Naxal-affected areas while 663 are in the general category. Rejected nominations A total of 43 nomination papers were rejected after scrutiny in Udupi district, 16 from Udupi, 18 from Kundapur, and 18 from Karkala were considered as invalid. There are 2,738 candidates in Udupi, 2,470 in Kundapur, and 1,130 in Karkala contesting the election. Unanimously selected candidates Candidates in eight village panchayats have been selected unanimously by the party activists. They include 10 from Kedur of Kundapur taluk, 9 from Korgi, 11 from Molahalli, 13 of Hardalli Mandalli, 21 seats from Kokkarne, 11 from Kuchchur of Kundapur taluk, 12 each from Nandalike and Belmannu. The election will be held for one seat each in Cherkady (Kampankatte) and Belve. The Nagarika Samiti members are participating in Kemmennu and Varamballi panchayat. There are 59 village panchayats in Udupi, 62 in Kundapur, 34 in Karkala, and there are 875 village panchayat constituencies in the district. The code of conduct will be in effect till June 7. District commissioner R Vishal and SP Annamalai will hold many meetings on preparation and will take peace-keeping measures. A flying squad will be formed for the smooth functioning of the election. According to Mallika Balakrishna, women have acknowledged the reservation seats and thus, came forward to contest the election. She said that a villager opined that she missed an opportunity due to her age being 62 and added that the villagers are giving good response compared to the previous elections. Congress party leaders district-in charge minister Vinay Kumar Sorake, MLA Pramod Madhwaraj, Oscar Fernandes, and Jayaprakash Hegde took the leadership of election canvassing to motivate the voters. In the BJP, Shobha Karandlaje, MP of Udupi, MLA Sunil, MP Kota Srinivas Poojary, and former MLA Raghupathi Bhat took on this responsibility. Two parties have appointed their own supervisor at the rural level. K M Asha, joint director of co-operative societies, Mysore region, has been appointed as an election observer for Udupi district. During the first phase on May 29, polling will be held in 15 districts—Mysuru, Chikkamagaluru, Dakshina Kannada, Hassan, Kodagu, Mandya, Chamarajnagara, Udupi, Belagavi, Vijayapura, Haveri, Bagalkote, Uttara Kannada, Dharwad, and Gadag. The DC circular says that the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages should be banned during the election and counting day. Dry days are from midnight of May 27 to midnight of May 29, and from midnight of June 4 to midnight of June 5. No party politics in village panchayat elections Interestingly, candidates are seeking votes on a non-party basis, but the candidates are directly supported by one or the other party. Candidates are allowed to carry pamphlets containing personal achievements along with the party symbol. Many of the candidates alleged that the symbol process was delayed so they have lesser time to cover all the areas. Social media in campaigning Nowadays, social media is playing a crucial role in building public opinion. Many of the candidates have already changed their profile images, are tagging images, symbols, and passing messages by seeking votes in their friends’ circle, amongst relatives, and so on. So, it would be a good reason for the variation in results. Finally, the result depends on voters. The public should be aware of the power of votes. Elections will be held on a non-party basis and a total of 94,458 GP members will be elected by an electorate of 2.81 crore during the two phases of polling. Fifty per cent of the seats are reserved for women. Polling will not be held in 229 GPs as their tenure will end after August 2015. During the second phase, on Tuesday June 2, polling will be held in the remaining 15 districts—Bengaluru urban, Bengaluru rural, Ramanagara, Chitradurga, Davanagere, Kolar, Chikkaballapura, Shivamogga, Tumakuru, Bidar, Ballari, Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Raichur, and Koppala. As many as 47 nomination papers were rejected after scrutiny for gram panchayat elections in Udupi district.

Sorake threatens to protest against UPCL

UDUPI, May 20, 2015

Vinay Kumar Sorake, Urban Development Minister, said on Tuesday that he would launch an agitation against the thermal power plant of Udupi Power Corporation Ltd. (UPCL) at Yellur in Udupi district, if it failed to pay taxes to the Yellur Gram Panchayat and use its funds under Corporate Social Responsibility for the welfare of the surrounding villages.

Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Sorake said that the salt water discharged by the thermal plant had damaged the fields of farmers in a couple of surrounding villages. UPCL should pay compensation to these farmers, he said.

UPCL, which is now under the Adani Group, wants to expand the capacity of the thermal plant.

For this purpose, it is planning to buy land in neighbouring villages up to Inna and Belman. “But we will fight against such mega expansion plans of the UPCL,” he said.

Energy Minister D.K. Shivakumar had called him for a meeting with the officials of UPCL in Bengaluru on May 19. But Mr. Sorake had refused to attend it. He had briefed Mr. Shivakumar on the problems faced by people due to the thermal plant, e said.

On the K. Kasturirangan Panel’s Report on the Conservation of the Western Ghats, Mr. Sorake said that the State government had urged the Centre only to include reserve forests and wildlife areas for conservation and to avoid all human habitations. The State government had already sought the relaxation of Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms. The CRZ norms, in existence in Goa and Kerala, should be extended to the State. This would help in promoting tourism along the coastline, he said.

Mr. Sorake said that ever since the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government came to power, the funds sanctioned to his Urban Development Ministry had been drastically reduced. The previous United Progressive Alliance government had provided Rs. 6,400 crore for implementation of various schemes. But the NDA government had provided only Rs. 82 crore.

The NDA government had also changed the ratio of funding for construction of fisheries harbours. Earlier, the Centre used to provide 75 per cent of amount, while the State bore the rest. Now the State government has to bear 60 per cent of expenses on construction of a port, while the Centre pays the remainder, Mr. Sorake said.

‘The plant should pay compensation to farmers’

Udupi: UPCL takover by Adani - Sorake slams Modi

Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (HB) Udupi, May 19: Urban development minister and district incharge Vinay Kumar Sorake on Tuesday May 19 lashed out at the union government, particularly at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and said that Modi's 'right hand' industrialist Gautam Adani's group had come forward to purchase UPCL as part of a 'strategy' to acquire farmers' land. Addressing a press meet here, Sorake said, "Prime Minister Modi’s right hand Adani's group has come forward to purchase UPCL by investing Rs 6,500 crore. The central government is plotting a strategy to acquire land belonging to poor farmers. This is the achievement of one year of Modi-led government." "I have always been against the 1,200-MW UPCL power plant. The authorities should have sorted out all the problems faced by the famers before acquiring their agricultural land in Kaup," he added. "Rs 6,400 crore had been sanctioned by the central government for three projects, but Modi cancelled the sanctioned amount of Rs 3,000 crore and there are no other grants sanctioned by the centre except the MP fund. The centre has released only Rs 82 crore under Swachch Bharat Abhiyan scheme. Modi says his dream is 'Make in India', but he has not even prepared guidelines for achieving this," he said. Condemning MP Shobha Karandlaje's statement that Congress government in the state has been a 'big zero', Sorake said, "If she is concerned about development of her own city, she should have asked sought IIT for her own constituency instead of Raichur district. She has no confidence in her ability to make contributions to society." Sorake, describing the two successful years of the Congress administration, said that the first phase of the most-awaited Varahi irrigation project, totally worth Rs 596 crore, has been started. "Foundation was recently laid for the Rs 141.38-crore advanced research center at Belapu. The state has completed more than 100 promises made to the public," he added. He further added that before commenting, BJP members should look at their own track record when they were in power in the state. He further said, "The state government has sanctioned Rs 123 crore for the development of coastal fishing and other basic infrastructure. The diesel subsidy was increased from Rs 300 to Rs 400 and the banking loan closing term was increased from 12 to 24 months for women. A proposal has been sent to the central government for the construction of Hejamady port. Approximately, 244 sea walls have been constructed and work amounting to Rs 2,730.24 lac of work is in process. Total Rs 168 crore worth of the sea wall project (from Ullal) is under process as per the ADB scheme and the third phase of Malpe port is under way. Udupi district has achieved 99.23 percent of success in revival of 116 lakes at an expense of Rs 413.78 lac." Sorake said he felt happy about Udupi and Dakshina Kannada achieving good results in SSLC and PUC exams, and praised the toppers hailing from the twin districts. Speaking about Ksheera Bhaggya and other government schemes, he said that 2,03,734 students were provided milk three days in a week and 21,621 bicycles were distributed to the students. Construction of Mini Vidhana Soudha "A Mini Vidhana Soudha building is to be established and an amount of Rs 5 crore has been released. A 25 acre site has been identified at Uppoor for a new police training school and 10 acre of land has been reserved for the establishment of a University center," he informed. "Nearly 32,638 Anthyodaya cards and 1,2,373 BPL cards have been distributed till now. In this term 1,471 people received old age pension, 6,981 widow pension and 2,016 received disability pension. A total Rs 85 crore grant was sanctioned to the City Municipal Council, Udupi," said Sorake. Regarding the upcoming gram panchayat elections, he said, "The preparation for gram panchayat elections is going well and we have been conducting meeting in every block office to strengthen the party's unity."