Karnataka government sanctions Rs 50 crore for the third largest lung space for Bengaluru | Bengaluru News
Bengaluru: The state govt Friday sanctioned Rs 50 crore for a new green space in Madappanahalli near Yelahanka. The 153-acre Vishwa Guru Basavanna Biodiversity Park will be the third largest in Bengaluru, after Lalbagh botanical garden (240 acres) and Cubbon park (197 acres).Estimated to cost Rs 750 crore in total, the biodiversity park will be built over a span of three years. Forest and environment minister Eshwar Khandre said the funding for the project will be primarily from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). “We do not want Bengaluru to become yet another gas chamber,” he said after the cabinet meeting.Khandre said the project will be divided in three phases with the first phase to immediately begin with the Rs 50 crore sanctioned by the govt. “There is presently a lot of acacia and eucalyptus trees which will be replaced with a lot of local varieties of trees and saplings. We will call for a detailed project report,” he said.The new lung space will have a space for medicinal plants, a bird sanctuary, tree parks, local variety of saplings and a section for educating children.Subsidised organ transplant hospitalMedical education minister Sharan Prakash Patil said the state along with the Azim Premji Foundation will set up a fully subsidised 1,000-bedded organ transplant hospital in five years for a cost of Rs 1,000 crore. Patil said the govt will provide 10 acres of land, which is presently housing the Bangalore Institute of Gastroenterology. “The new hospital will have 70 per cent beds for free of cost with priority for BPL families and another 30 per cent beds reserved for people covered under the Ayushman Bharat-Arogya Karnataka (ABARK) insurance scheme,” said Patil.The minister further said the decision to have the hospital besides Nimhans is to enable quick harvest of organs as the most serious trauma cases come to that hospital. “The Azim Premji Foundation will also be running the hospital at an annual cost of Rs 350 crore and will have the naming rights for it,” he said.The govt will have three members on the board of the hospital, which will include the minister, medical education secretary and the finance secretary. “We are also in talks with the foundation to take over even the existing organ transplant hospital at the gastroenterology institute,” he said.These apart, the cabinet also cleared the corridor 2 and 4 for the suburban rail at an estimated cost of Rs 16,000 crore, to be shared equally by the state and Centre and the compensation package for land acquisition of 948 acres for the Bengaluru Business Corridor (BBC).OTHER CABINET DECISIONSFresh CSR policy to be issued by the state govtLast year, deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar had raised concerns over illegal donations through CSR. Hence, the state cabinet Friday cleared the proposal for a fresh CSR policy that will spell out the guidelines for corporates in Karnataka, with priority being given to the education sector. “The govt is equipped to understand which sectors require priority under CSR. As a result, the new guidelines will be issued to spell them out,” said law and parliamentary affairs minister HK Patil. It is said the guidelines are being formulated.Govt gives employment to daughter of late IAS officer The state govt cleared the appointment of Chaitanya, daughter of late IAS officer Mahantesh Bilagi, as group C personnel in the secretariat on compassionate grounds. Bilagi had died in a road accident earlier last year.
