Karnataka is the first state in the south to be ruled by BJP. In the General Elections 2009, the largest number of Lok Sabha members was elected on the BJP ticket from the state. Electoral surprises have been quite visible and merciless in some cases. Veterans of many elections were routed while some of the kith and kin of those in power with no legislative experience were elected to the Lok Sabha.

This time, however, despite the debacle in securing less Lok Sabha seats from Karnataka, Congress has accommodated five representatives from the state in the Central cabinet. Two former chief ministers are included in the cabinet, where the number of aspirants was very large.

The Union cabinet has many new faces and youngsters. The process of implementing economic reforms is expected to be continued by the new team, headed by prime minister Manmohan Singh. Speedy develop-ment of the infrastructure is the
most urgent issue. This is the right time for investing in infrastructure, as it would generate employment and increase the demand for many consumer items. The Centre should be fair in supporting infrastructure construction in those states, where they are badly needed.

Infrastructure needs of Karnataka

Karnataka has many yawning gaps in its infrastructure facilities. It has been ignored by the railway ministry since long. Power shortage has been crippling industrial development in recent years. Though the state was a pioneer in generating hydro-electric power, the vagaries of monsoon have considerably reduced the quantum of hydro-power generation. The irony is that it is the only state in India which has all the modes of power generation; hydro-power at Supa, thermal power plant at Raichur, nuclear power plant at Kaiga, barge-mounted power plant in Mangalore and wind power in Chitradurga. The much-talked about Golden Quadrangle connecting the national highways makes only modest appearance in the state.

Railway needs of Mangalore…

While the outgoing railway minister was boasting about the surplus cash generated by the Railways, very little investment is being made in Karnataka for developing additional facilities. Mangalore was the terminal end of Southern Railway for nearly a century. Railways came to Mangalore in 1907 and it started inching up on the west coast only after 1997. Konkan Railway Corporation has bridged the gap in the railway map from Mangalore to Mumbai. But linking this coastal line to the interior remains unattended. The feasibility survey of linking Ankola in the coast to Hubli in the interior has been conducted long back The proposal to link Kadur to Chikamagalur, the heartland of coffee plantations, is still hanging, with very little allocations made in the railway budgets. The project of linking Hassan to Bangalore via Shravanabelagola, the famous Jain pilgrim centre, reducing thereby the distance between them, remains incomplete.

Hassan-Mangalore railway line is a classic example of utter neglect by the Railway Board. Even during the British regime, the need for liking Hassan, the centre of coffee growing area to Mangalore Port for coffee exports was recognised. It was only in the 1960s that the construction of this line was started. At that time, the Railway Board was contemplating the proposal of converting the metregauge lines into broad gauge lines. But, the Hassan-Mangalore line was laid as a metre gauge line only. Within a short span thereafter this line was closed for its conversion into broad gauge. And this work was done in snail's pace taking nearly a decade for completion. It is rumoured that the bus-lobby was behind this delay.

It is more than three years that the Railway Budget announced the introduction of two new trains running between Mangalore and Bangalore during day time; one going via Hassan and the other via Mysore. This announcement has never been implemented so far. There is gross under-utilisation of the installed capacity of the railway line here. The road traffic on this sector, therefore, has increased tremendously, damaging the NH 48 very badly. Iron ore export from Mangalore Port has been increasing spectacularly, where the ore from Bellary is transported to the port by road. Railways can handle this traffic much more effectively, reducing the congestion at the ghat section and avoiding damage to the roads by the heavy trucks carrying ore.

The growing needs of Mangalore and its neighbourhood justify the case for segregating Mangalore from the Palghat Division of Southern Railway. Considering the insensitivity of the divisional office and also the indifference of Railway Board, there is an imperative need for carving out a Divisional set up in Mangalore. It can concentrate on responding to the local needs more easily. It can also take up the work relating to the survey of new railway lines like the Sullia-Kanhagad section and Ankola-Hubli section.

Case for doubling Konkan rail line

Konkan Railway has become a very popular mode of transport throughout the west coast connecting Kanya-kumari to all the cities in the north, through Mumbai. The traffic on this section is growing very fast. The need for doubling the tracks is being increasingly felt because of the time spent in waiting for the trains to cross several stations. While it has taken over 100 years for the Konkan coast to get the railway line, it should not take more than a decade from now to get the super fast trains running along the beautiful coastal belt. It depends upon doubling of the tracks.

Highways suffer neglect

Karnataka does not appear to be a favoured state as far as the investments of the Union government on national highways in the state are concerned. Fourteen national highways pass through Karnataka having a road length of 3243 km. Considering the density of motor traffic on some of the national highways in the state, the Golden Quadrangle should have been stretched a bit more into the state. One highway, which got the benefit of massive investment, is NH 4. It has the longest stretch of 658 km, which passes through the state from Mumbai to Chennai via Bangalore. NH17 running from Mumbai to Kanyakumari along the coast could not get much attention from the national exchequer, though the revenue generated in this stretch is substantial. Under a scheme for linking the Mangalore Port, less than 100 km on either side of the port is being widened to have four lanes. The work undertaken by the National Highways Authority of India is limping in the last two years. Fly-overs and bridges remain incomplete and the people all along this stretch have been suffering from the dust polluting the surrounding areas beyond tolerance limit.

A major tourist circuit cries for attention

The case of NH13 is more pathetic, the highway running from Mangalore to Sholapur via Karkala, Sringeri, Shimoga, Chithradurga, Koppal and Bijapur was declared as NH13 a couple of years ago. Its length in the state is 648 km, the second longest. Many parts of this road remain worse than major district roads. It passes through the narrow lanes of a number of small towns, winding through dangerous curves. From Mangalore it goes over a 100 year old bridge on river Phalguni, which is waiting for replacement since long. Going down into an old sleepy town, Gurpur's narrow lane, it rises steeply to reach Ganjimutt, where an IT SEZ is slated to come up. Proceeding further, it passes through the congested roads of Moodabidre, the famous Jain pilgrim centre. Thereafter, touching Karkala, another important pilgrim centre, it branches off into the Kudremukh forest area. The road inside this reserved forest area is an apology for road, until it reaches Sringeri, the famous temple town. Going further, it touches Hampi, the remnants of the historical Vijayanagar empire. Before reaching Bijapur, the Golgumbaz town, it passes through the periphery of Pattadakallu, where the Chalukyan temple architecture had blossomed in the past.

Here is the case of wanton neglect of a highway, which could have been developed as a major tourist circuit, with so many historical and pilgrim centres existing on its route.

The state government has a grand- eloquent proposal of building airports in all district headquarters and the number of districts are likely to increase with every government coming to power. This cannot be a viable proposition considering the vagaries of the aviation industry. Instead, it would be better to develop the highways like NH13, providing easy access to tourist spots and pilgrim centres, which are in good numbers in the state. The passenger transport segment run by the state government has made remarkable progress having a large fleet of Volvo buses plying in the state. By building better roads - not airports at this juncture - the government can make significant contribution to tourism and industrial development.

Recently an announcement has been made by the state government indicating its proposal to develop all state highways in the state on public-private-partnership basis and collecting toll fees. It is a good proposition. But, it has to be implemented on a selective basis. Private builders appear to be evincing very little interest in participating in such ventures in the state. It is reported that for tenders called for the development of four lane highway from Surathkal to Kundapur on NH17, there was a single quotation, necessitating thereby re-tendering. Reputed builders have to be attracted by improving the terms and conditions of the partnership procedures.

Persisting power shortages

Power shortage has been retarding the all round progress of the state. Bifurcation of the electricity board into separate corporations for generation and distribution power, pioneered by Karnataka, has no doubt, made some improvement in the power sector. But the perennial problems of shortage and load shedding remain unabated.

Though there is scope for developing small hydro-power projects in some districts, public resistance creates hurdles, fuelled by the fear of displacement of farmers and sub-merging of lands. The existing multi-purpose irrigational projects can contribute very little to enhance power generation. The commissioning of the second stage of the Varahi hydro-electricity project during January this year is expected to provide some relief during the peak period of power consumption.

Thermal power plants do not find favour with the environmental protagonists. The proposal of the Government of India to set up a super thermal power plant in Tadadi in Uttara Kannada district has been abandoned because of local opposition. A small thermal power plant in the private sector has been struggling for nearly five years to come up in Udupi district, braving stiff resistance from the local people. At last, it appears to be getting ready for power generation in a year or two. The state government has plans to set up a new thermal plant in Raichur district.

Pioneering concept of generation at Chhattisgarh

Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd has signed an agreement with the Government of Chhattisgarh to set up a 1200 MW thermal plant with an investment of Rs.60 billion in Chhattisgarh using the local source of coal. It is expected to be commissioned by October 2012. Until then, electricity may continue to play hide and seek game with the citizens.

Barge mounted power plant

The barge-mounted power plant of GMR group in Mangalore was shut down for some time, when the contract period was over. In a situation of acute power shortage, the higher cost of power form such sources should not result in stopping the purchase of power by the state. The contribution of the non-conventional sources of energy to the total power supply in the state is not very significant, though they are making some progress in the recent years.

BJP, the party in power in the state, has a mandate to achieve the socio-economic development of the state during the five years. Without adopting a path of confrontation with the Centre on ideological differences, it is desirable to seek larger investment on infrastructure development in the state. Instead of implementing merely populist programmes requiring huge expenditure from the state exchequer, it is worthwhile investing on programmes for enriching the living conditions of the masses.

Pre-eminence in banking

The banking sector in the state is striving to achieve financial inclusion in all the districts on a time bound programme. Inclusive growth is not merely facilitating the accessibility to financial services. It has to be much more than that. There is a need for coordinating the village level efforts of banks to reach out to the unreached and the developmental plans of village panchayats. Provision of medical facilities, primary school, drinking water, village roads and power are the essential ingredients to enhance welfare of the society. They are part of the socio-economic infrastructure the state has to provide.