On Saturday, June 24, Karnataka Minister of Small-Scale Industries and Public Enterprises Sharanabasappa Darshanapur admitted that the guarantee schemes announced by the party will take a direct toll on the infrastructure development within the state.
The Congress Minister stated that infrastructure development in the state would be affected to some extent during the first year of the Congress government in office. He claimed that this would happen because of the guarantee schemes launched by the Siddaramaiah government.
The minister pointed out that there will be a financial burden of Rs 40,000 crore to Rs 50,000 crore on the exchequer due to these guarantee schemes.
Darshanapur said, “We need more than ₹50,000 crores annually for the implementation of our five guarantees. This may affect the development works to some extent.”
However, he claimed that the revenue of the government is also increasing and the budget size has grown from ₹2.08 lakh crore to ₹3 lakh crore. He stated that this will help the government in balancing welfare programs and development projects. Subsequently, Darshanapur claimed that development works would gain pace in the next year.
Apparently, the Minister also ruled out the possibility of a rollback in the power tariff hike. For this, he argued that it is the decision of the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission which is an autonomous body.
Previously, the Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KCC&I) announced a “bandh” on June 22. This decision came as a response to the sudden increase in electricity prices implemented by the electricity supply companies (ESCOMs).
Earlier, OpIndia reported that the energy costs and power tariffs in Karnataka have been increased by Rs 2.89 per unit in June despite Siddaramaiah’s state government’s free electricity pledge. Now the citizens will have to pay an additional Rs 2.89 per unit if their power usage exceeds the 200 units slab while paying the power bill.
Minister diffuses the tension and claims to hold a meeting on Power-hike
To ease the tensions, the Congress Minister further added that recently a meeting has been convened with Energy Minister KJ George which will be held on the 28th of June. During this meeting, the matter related to the reduction of power tariff hikes for small-scale industries would be discussed.
He said, “Many industrialists, especially those running small-scale industries, have expressed concerns over their future in the backdrop of hiked power tariff. Energy Minister, Large and Medium Scale Industry Minister, and I would meet them in Bengaluru on June 28 and discuss the solution to the problem.”
The minister made these statements and admitted the adverse impact of ‘freebies’ while having an interaction meeting with industrialists and traders in the Kalaburagi district. It was organised by the Kalyana Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KKCCI), earlier this week.
The major attendees of the event include Kalaburagi South MLA Allamprabhu Patil, KKCCI president Shashikanth Patil, secretary Manjunath Jewargi, and former president Prashanath Mankar among others.
