Mangaluru : A high-level meeting will be convened in Bengaluru in the presence of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, to discuss runway expansion of Mangalore International Airport (MIA), District-in-Charge Minister Ramanath Rai said.

Chairing the tri-monthly KDP meeting here on Tuesday, he said there is a need to discuss whether land acquisition will be carried out by the State government or to take up the work on PPP mode.

Aditional DC Sadashiva Prabhu said to expand the runway, MIA had sought 289.335 acre land in its letter dated February 12, 2014. However, total of 190.91 acre was available in the vicinity. To rehabilitate families residing on the land, an estimate of Rs 121.05 crore was prepared and submitted to the State government. The survey of the land to be acquired has been completed and a proposal will be submitted to the government. MLC Ivan D’Souza said expansion of runway is a necessity to bring bigger aircraft to Mangaluru. There is an urgent need to speed up the work, he said.

Wenlcok Hospital Superintendent Dr Rajeshwari Devi said hospital caters to needs of over 700 patients daily. Leaking of hospital buildings leaves rooms soggy. Karnataka State Health System Development Reforms Project had prepared an estimate for Rs 18.15 crore to repair the building and proposal has been submitted to the State government.

An estimate of Rs 18.10 crore has been prepared for building a super speciality building in the hospital premises. The Health Minister has promised to release two third of the project estimate if the Arogya Raksha Samithi sanctions one third of the project cost for the building, she said.

Classrooms at schools
Zilla Panchayat CEO P I Sreevidya said under Rashtriya Madhyamika Shikshana Abhiyan, classrooms were sanctioned to 65 highschools in the district. The work on 13 highschools have not been taken up so far. “I have directed the contractor to take up pending work before August 5 and complete the work before December end. The minister directed ZP CEO to write to the State government to initiate action against the contractor.

“If the tender is entrusted to a local contractor, we have hold on him. In this case, the contract was entrusted at the state-level.” On Aadhaar being made mandatory, DC said there is confusion with regard to Aadhaar. Though it is not mandatory to possess Aadhaar, notification for various scholarships from the government clearly asked to mention the Aadhaar number. This had created confusion in the minds of parents and started rushing towards the Aadhaar registration centres.

Additional DC said officials had received 24,000 applications seeking income certificates in the month of June. However, a total of 70,000 applications were received in the month of July. All efforts have been made to issue the certificate within 21 days.

Social Welfare officer Santhosh said five new BCM hostels at Belthangady, Konaje, Moodbidri, Bettampady and Vamadapadavu have been sanctioned to the district. The district has received six applications seeking scholarships to study in foreign universities. The selected students will get Rs 10 lakh to study abroad.