With Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa preparing to present the State Budget on Thursday, expectations from it are high in Vijayapura district.
Since the district is known for horticulture crops and tourism, people here are expecting some major announcements to boost these sectors.
With a major portion of grapes produced in the State being cultivated in the district, farmers here are unhappy with the successive governments for not providing facilities to help them carry on their activities in a sustainable manner.
Fighting for the welfare of grape growers, Abhaykumar Nandrekar, State president of Grape Growers Association, blamed the successive governments for neglecting grape growers.
“We have only one demand, if that is met, it would provide significant help to grape growers. The government should constitute a grape development board on the lines of areca, mango, coconut and lemon development boards,” he said and hoped that the demand would be met in the budget.
The airport project, which has remained on the back burner for long, is another project that the people are hoping will find a place in the budget. It has been over a decade since the foundation stone for the project was laid.
Even after allotting over 700 acres of land for the project, no development has taken place. The airport project is expected to boost tourism and the horticulture sector as it would facilitate arrival of tourists and also direct transportation of horticulture produce.
With regard to the education sector, the demand for a government medical college has intensified in the last five years. Shivanand Patil, who was Health Minister in the previous coalition government, tried to get a collage granted but failed.
The district has three BJP MLAs, and since the BJP is in power, it would be interesting to see whether they put pressure on the government to get the college granted here.
Since Vijayapura district is known for droughts, irrigation facility is the only way to provide water to this parched area. Mr. Yediyurappa, during his visit to offer Bagina at Almatti dam a few months ago, had promised to allocate ₹ 20,000 crore for completing all pending work in the Upper Krishna Project.
