Shivamogga: A meeting will be held with Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy within 15 days in order to discuss the development of tourist spots and construction of an airport in the district, said S R Mahesh, State Tourism Minister. He was speaking at the Shivamogga Deputy Commissioner’s office where a discussion was being held with the officials regarding tourist spots in the district.
“In all, Rs 13 Crore will be approved and the BRP Bhadra Dam area will be developed on par with the KRS dam. This will attract more tourists,” he said, adding that Rs 100 crore was to be spent on the project by a private company.
“As of now, whatever amount is released should be used to complete the project within 8 to 10 months. This is the CM’s dream project and he is very interested in developing BRP. In between, 23 acres of land has been identified for a jungle resort,” he said.
Places such as Shivappanayak’s Summer Palace, Kote temple and the Jog falls are a priority. NRI BR Shetty’s company will undertake the project and will make Jog falls a full-time tourism spot. We are only waiting for the approval from the Department of Environmental and Forest Biology . As soon as the approval is received, the project will commence, said officials from the forest department.
H Halappa said that since the environmentalists had objected to this, a discussion would be held with them to come up with a solution.
Regarding the construction of airport at Shivamogga, MLA Eshwarappa said that compensation has already been paid for the land that was acquired for the construction of the airport.
Minister S R Mahesh suggested that a tourist map of Shivamogga be made as there were a lot of tourists places in and around the district. A map would help pull in crowds for at least three days to enjoy all the places. He also said that there were plans to lay good roads and install basic facilities in coordination with the forest department to provide connectivity with Kodachadri, which is the most visited tourist spot for trekking. As there are plans to develop the Koodala Sangama, Tunga and Bhadra join in a village Kudli, an inspection of the area will be conducted.
Speaking about the natural disaster that recently ravaged the Kodagu district, the minister said that the losses have been estimated at around Rs 4000 Crore and added that a request had been made with the central government to arrange for a special relief fund.
“Till now, the funds received from the public has crossed Rs 65 Crore. We are doing speedy work for basic infrastructural development and it is going well. A compensation of Rs 6 Lakh has been given to those who lost their houses in the disaster. Apart from this, each family will get Rs 1.09 Lakh for domestic items and 100 acres of land has been reserved for housing for the needy,” he added.
K S Eshwarappa, Kumar Bangarappa, Araga Jnanedra, H Halappa, Rudre Gowda, Deputy Commissioner K Dayanand, ZP CEO Shivarame Gowda, SP Abinav Khare, Hanumanayaka and various officers from different departments were present.
