State Human Resources Development Minister Hari Narain Singh told IANS here Thursday that the government has decided to spend Rs.50 crore to improve the infrastructure of the Buniyadi Vidyalayas (basic schools), about six of which were set up by the father of the nation himself.

The schools were set up to impart basic education to boys and girls in rural areas. They were also meant to provide vocational training in spinning, carpentry, farming and weaving.

The first Buniyadi Vidyalaya was established by the Mahatma in 1939 at Brindavan in Bihar’s West Champaran district.

Singh said the government will spend Rs.50 lakh each on 100 basic schools during the current financial year as part of the first phase of the revival plan. In the next two financial years, the government would spend money on the other 291 schools.

“The government will not allow the dream schools of Mahatma Gandhi to die. All the basic schools will be revived in phased manner to provide opportunity to the younger generation to realise the dream of the father of the nation,” said Singh.

Official sources said the basic schools or “Mahatma ke school” as they are popularly called in Bihar, are struggling for survival. They suffer from a shortage of teachers and funds. In many case, land meant for the Buniyadi Vidyalayas is in illegal possession of others.

Successive state governments have allowed the schools to languish. Even the central government has not made any attempt to breathe life into them.

A few years ago, the Supreme Court took serious note of the plight of the basic schools in West Champaran district.

The court had then issued notices to the centre, the state government, the district administration of West Champaran and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to ensure proper functioning of the schools and preservation of the Gandhian heritage.

New Delhi: With only a week to go before the first parliament session of the new government ends, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi exhorted party members not to lose sight of the reason they had been elected as MPs.

In a well calibrated address at the Congress parliamentary meeting, she cajoled and chided while stressing that the time had come “to deliver what we promised”.

Gandhi, who backed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s declaration there was no dilution of the national consensus on countering terrorism emanating from Pakistan, reminded the MPs to not forget the decisive mandate that had voted the government back to power.

“You will be soon going back to your constituencies and states. I am sure you will keep in touch with your constituency and attend to the needs and demands of the people there,” she said.

“As I said on an earlier occasion, we have been given a decisive mandate and people expect us to fulfil their aspirations. It is for us now to deliver what we have promised.

“We now have a larger number of ministers from our own party. I am speaking from my personal experience which I know you will share, when I say that the expectations and demands from constituents are ever increasing and rightly so,” Gandhi said.

“It is no longer a matter of a hand pump here and there, or a culvert or a kutccha (unpaved) road. People demand better infrastructure, all-weather roads, functioning schools and hospitals, skill-training facilities and jobs.”

Gandhi asked all ministers to take out time to assist MPs, especially in developmental works in their respective constituencies.

“This makes all the difference especially in states where our workers are waging a struggle in the opposition.”

She referred to the flagship National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme that had received an enhanced outlay in the budget, the Right to Education, the Rehabilitation & Resettlement Bills and the proposed National Food Security Act the government plans to translate to law.

Expressing her displeasure on the attendance of MPs in both houses of parliament especially when crucial Bills have been introduced in the month-long session, she said: “Our chief whips have a tough task mobilising all of you on crucial occasions.

“This reflects poorly on us and does little justice to those who have voted us to represent them here. It is both our individual and collective responsibility to see to it that the attendance record improves,” said Gandhi.

Making an additional budget speech in the legislative assembly on Friday, Kamat proposed that the new Zuari bridge be “the golden jubilee bridge in Goa’s 50th year of liberation”.

Later speaking to the media Kamat said, “We have infrastructure schemes like the Dona Paula-Vasco sea link. We have also tried to touch the hearts of the parents of differently abled and special children.”

The chief minister also announced Rs eight crore for phase two of the beach safety programme and another Rs three crore for the beach cleaning scheme. He also plans to introduce a single window clearance system for speedy disposal for applications for setting up new industrial units in Goa.

Kamat said the interim budget presented in March 2009 and the vote on account taken was to allow the government carry on business for the first five months of the current fiscal year. The earlier budget did not include new development schemes, nor tax proposals due to the then prevailing election model code of conduct.

Kamat said the additional budget had tried to raise more revenue and bring in new schemes without burdening the common man. “You must note that although we have announced many new schemes, we have made financial

provision for all these schemes,” Kamat said.

The chief minister said the average GSDP (gross state domestic product) growth rate of over 12% led to an increase of the GSDP from Rs 15,023.34 crore in 2006-07 to Rs 16,901.26 crore in 2007-08 at current prices. Despite the economic slowdown, the state’s tax collection has been to the tune of Rs 2,108.99 crore in 2008-09 as compared to Rs 1,752.64 crore during 2007-08.

Kamat said, “Government has decided to enhance public spending to stimulate growth on one hand and on the other create an environment conducive for private capital participation in projects to be taken up on a public private participation format. We will formulate a comprehensive PPP policy, including a new Viability Gap Funding Scheme, on the lines of the central government scheme. We intend to develop several infrastructure projects on PPP basis.”

Finance department officials explained that the estimated expenditure on new schemes and projects require an additional provision of Rs 119.77 crore whereas the additional revenue that is estimated to be collected amounts to Rs 516.40 crore. This will revise the plan size to Rs 1,993.77 crore (including public sector undertakings and local bodies) and total revenue expenditure to Rs 4,605.90 crore and total revenue receipts to Rs 4,587.15 crore.

The revenue deficit would thus get revised downward to Rs 18.75 crore instead of earlier estimated Rs 348.40 crore. Similarly, the fiscal deficit would also get revised downward to Rs 482.54 crore from its earlier estimates of Rs 812.19 crore, finance department officials said.

Intervening during a discussion in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, Yeddyurappa said the government was committed to sanction BDA sites to all MLAs, MLCs and MPs.
“Those legislators who do not have sites in Bangalore, just need to apply and they will be sanctioned sites,” he said.

The Chief Minister was responding to a comment by JD(S) floor leader H D Revanna that his son B Y Raghavendra had been given a site in Bangalore by the government within three months of becoming a MP.  The allottee has to buy the site as per the rate fixed by the BDA. Under this out-of-turn allotment, sites located in prime localities are given.

A Manju (Cong), while welcoming the government’s move, alleged that there had been disparity in the allotment of sites. While ruling party members had been allotted sites in prime localities, Opposition members had been given sites in the outskirts, he alleged.
Revanna said he had been elected to the Assembly thrice, but had never sought a BDA site. Labour Minister B N Bachegowda remarked that Revanna might have made ‘Benami’ sites. An infuriated Revanna dared Bachegowda to prove his allegations. “If the allegations are true, I will stop attending the House,” Revanna said.

Bill passed

The Legislative Council on Tuesday passed the The Karnataka Civil Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2009.

The Bill has made amendments to the term Civil Judge (junior and senior division) in accordance to a request made by the National Judicial Pay Commission. The bill has been passed by the Assembly.

Welcome to Bangalore, whose quiet, tree-lined roads have given way to chaotic traffic, and there are bottlenecks at every intersection. A city where mileage doesn’t matter, but peak-hour traffic speed does. For all this, blame the exponential increase in the number of vehicles in Bangalore. In 1984-85, there were only 2.77 lakh vehicles. Today, there are 34.77 lakh vehicles. Of these, 71% are two-wheelers, 16% cars, 3% autos and the rest other vehicles. In contrast, Mysore has 4.85 lakh vehicles and Mangalore 2.71 lakh. The sudden increase in two-wheelers testifies to the fact that Bangalore has emerged as the best address for job-seekers, and also a telling indictment on the quality of public transport where it mattered most.

In 1983, there was only one RTO in Indiranagar, now there are 10. Bicycles, TVSes, Lunas, Dolphins, Fiats and Ambassadors, which once dominated the city roads, are pushed to the margins of traffic history.

If vehicles saw a jaw-dropping 12-fold increase in 25 years, the traffic personnel strength crawled by an appalling four-fold, and the results are evident on the road - lack of traffic policemen and chaos ruling the roads. Their number has inched from 753 in 1981 to just about 3,000 now. This is one of the reasons that best explains why we’re light years away from developed nations on traffic management.

“In another five years, the vehicular population will touch the 50-60 lakh mark. Widening of roads and flyovers will not help in easing traffic congestion; instead, public transport has to be strengthened. The Metro Rail is the new hope; it promises to carry 10 lakh commuters every day,” says Addl Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Praveen Sood.

The BMTC, the commuting lifeline of Bangaloreans, has been serving the city since 1940. Today, more than 38 lakh people use this service every day - or you can see some 43 people hopping in and out of BMTC bus every minute. In 1984, there were 1,000 buses; now there are more than 5,600 buses. There were only 402 routes in and around Bangalore then; there are 1,700 routes now. The BMTC makes 76,000 trips every day, up from 20,456 in 1984. Who can forget our red-coloured double-decker smoke engines? There were 80 such buses in 1984. These buses were phased out due to high maintenance cost. But, there’s a proposal to bring them back after some bureaucrats went to Europe on a study tour, and presumably travelled by them.

The BMTC has introduced a variety of bus services including Mall special, Hospital special, Ladies special, Big 10, Airport special, Vajra services, Parisaravahini buses and pass-holder special buses. More than 30,000 BMTC personnel serve Bangaloreans today.

“Both the quality and quantity has increased. Manual steering has made way to power steering, new advanced and superior quality engines cause less pollution today. Automatic doors for safety, luxury seating arrangements and more space for the commuters to stand, patrolling vehicles, website, call centre and concessional bus passes for all are some of the revolutionary changes that have swept through BMTC,” says BMTC HRD manager K N Ingalagi.

The badly maintained, poorly lit roads with bone-breaking potholes and open drains are sources of constant trouble. The builders of Bangalore believed in rotary-type circles, which were traffic-friendly. Today, these circles have disappeared. Big roads once called ‘Rajabidis’ like J C Road, Nrupatunga Road and Jayanagar Road have been crunched.

“Bangalore roads were never meant for heavy vehicles. There is an error in urban planning. Multiplicity of vehicles has caused a headache for both transport department and the traffic police. Existing roads cannot accommodate so many vehicles,” says transport commissioner Bhaskar Rao.

The city has over 1,500 km of roads today. The increase in the city’s road length has not kept pace with the increase in population. Chaos, congestion, inadequacy of transport system and road rages are the fallout of this imbalance.

Though the present looks bleak, there is hope for the future. The transport department, the BBMP and the BMTC have many plans on the anvil. Time has come to trust automated traffic management. Metro Rail seems to be the silver lining.

MLA M P Kumaraswamy visited the rain-hit areas on Sunday in Kalasa hobli. Landslides had occurred at Navilukudige on Huluvalli-Hornadu road, Kankodu on Hirebail-Hemmakki road and Hosuru on Kalasa-Kalakodu road near Shri Kalaseshwara temple were inspected by him. He promised to make recommendation for release of funds for taking up works at all the spots were landslide had occurred.

Inspecting the houses damaged by rains, Kumaraswamy promised to provide appropriate compensation to the families.

BJP District Raitha Morcha Secretary Sheshagiri said that when they take up survey to ascertain the rain damages that have occurred in the region to help the poor and the farmers get compensation from the government, opposition party leaders have been calling such people as ‘agents of the ruling party’. “These people only know to keep the rich farmers happy by chalking out various schemes for them. Now that they have lost power, they have taken up framing allegation against ruling party as their job,” he added.
TP Executive Engineer Manjunath, Veerendra, Achutha from Revenue Department, and BJP leaders accompanied Kumaraswamy.

He visited Sri Kalaseshwara temple, which was burgled on Thursday and assured to ask the police to fasten the investigation.