The State Budget for 2020-21 tabled in the Assembly on Thursday has been a disappointing fare for Mysuru city / surrounding regions none of which finds a direct mention under any of the major or minor schemes.
The city figured only twice in the entire Budget the details of which are in the public domain. Apart from a grant of ₹2 crore for the documentation of traditional tribal medical systems and practices and establishing processing units of select medicines, Mysuru gets nothing by way of special allocation.
The second time the city figures in the Budget is the announcement of an allocation of ₹80 lakh for the purchase of printing machines for the Government Braille Printing Press in Mysuru.
Among the infrastructure projects for which the State government’s intervention was anticipated was the land acquisition and transfer to the Airport Authority of India for the expansion of the Mysuru airport.
This was imperative for the runway extension and required acquisition and transfer of 115 acres of land for the first phase of the expansion. But it finds no mention in the Budget though Mysuru MP Pratap Simha had submitted a memorandum underlining its importance.
Similarly, Mr. Simha had sought financial allocation for starting the Mysuru (Belagola) - Kushalnagar stretch of the railway line which has received administrative approval from the Railway Ministry but the project is yet to get started. For, the State government has to procure land and also commit itself to meet 50 per cent of the project cost for the railway line to be viable. But there is no mention of the same in the Budget.
Interestingly, the speech of the Chief Minister clearly mentions that land will be provided free of cost to Dharwad-Belagavi railway line through Kittur and the State government has agreed to bear 50 per cent of cost of the works. In addition, it has also promised to enhance the capacity of rail line in the ghat region between Sakleshpura and Subrahmanya stations by the Hassan-Mangaluru Rail Development Corporation (HMRDC). However, no such assurances have been held out for either the Mysuru airport or the Kushalnagar railway line.
Though officials here said that these are sanctioned projects and hence funds would be made available through extra-budgetary resources a budgetary allocation would have helped expedite the commencement of the project.
Though there is a sizeable allocation of ₹500 crore for the tourism sector, the allocation is for the entire State and despite Mysuru being a major tourist destination, there is nothing specific for the region.
Similarly, a special grant was sought for the golden chariot for Chamundeshwari temple of which there is no mention. But this may be tapped from the allocation made for development of nearly 25,000 temples and other monuments in the State, or the project may be dropped.
