Rs40 cr to improve traffic management in the city

Rs40 cr to improve traffic management in the city

Hemanth Kumar. Bangalore



The state cabinet on Wednesday approved a grant of Rs40 crore to improve traffic management in Bangalore. This comes in the wake of the enormous increase in vehicles on city roads.
The funds will be utilised for building bus bays, synchronising traffic signals, constructing sky walks and improving footpaths.
The cabinet has also approved Rs7.57 crore for the construction new retaining walls for storm water drains; this amount will also go into improvement of the drains in the Hebbal valley.
There is happy news for state government employees who have joined services after April 1, 2006: the government has decided to extend the pension scheme to them too. The pension scheme, which was discontinued from 2006, would be reintroduced, Home minister VS Acharya said, briefing the media about cabinet decisions.
"The deduction for the pension scheme will be 10% of the salary. Employees have the option of increasing their contribution too. The state government would make a matching contribution. The amount would be deposited with the Pension Endowment Fund of the union government for management. The employees will also have the option of making a consolidated contribution for the fund to cover the past three years," Acharya said.
Proposal to purchase 6.70 lakh bicycles for students who have enrolled for 8th standard for 2009-10 academic year has been approved by the cabinet. The cycles are being purchased at a price of Rs2,390 per cycle. This would thus entail an expenditure of Rs145 crore on this project. "The price being paid is Rs120 less than what the Tamil Nadu government had paid under a similar scheme in that state," Acharya claimed.
However, the students who are studying in residential schools and those who have availed student bus pass will not be eligible for the free bicycle.
Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi will get a plush annexe building with all the amenities for providing accommodation facilities for the VIPs visiting the national capital from Karnataka. The cabinet on Wednesday granted Rs15 crore for this purpose.
A by-pass link road connecting Srirangapatna-Jewargi national highway with the state highway-19 will also be taken up, at an expenditure of Rs14.22 crore.