By Dakshina Kannada Member of Parliament Capt. Brijesh Chowta on Saturday asked officials of the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) to get the Plastic Park project at Ganjimutt ready for inauguration by October-end.
Presiding over the District Development Co-ordination and Monitoring Committee (DISHA) meeting held to review the progress of Centrally sponsored projects, Capt. Chowta said he, along with Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner H.V. Darshan, would inspect the progress of the project during the first week of October.
Gokuldas Nayak, Joint Director, District Industries Centre (DIC), told the meeting that 48 sites developed on 40 acres were available for distribution at the park. The DIC has so far received 16 applications for the sites.
A KIADB official said ongoing works at the park were on the verge of completion.
Referring to the construction of houses for Koragas, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), under the Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyaan (PM-JANMAN) scheme, Capt. Chowta asked Chief Executive Officer of the Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat Narwade Vinayak Karbhari to prepare an action plan to achieve target saturation. The government provides ₹4.5 lakh for building each house. As the amount will not be enough, the participation of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to help complete the construction should be explored, he said.
DISHA committee member S. Bharat Kumar said ₹4.5 lakh was a meagre amount and no house could be built with it. “Laying the foundation itself costs about ₹2.5 lakh,” he said, underscoring the need for a policy change to allocate more funds.
An official of the Horticulture Department told the meeting that horticultural crops, mainly arecanut, belonging to 137 farmers across 18 hectares of land were damaged in the district during the ongoing monsoon season.
Capt. Chowta asked a Southern Railway official to explore a suitable place to develop a railway station near Mangaluru International Airport. It is to arrange railway connectivity to the airport.
No official from South Western Railway (SWR), Mysuru region, attended the meeting.
Published – August 29, 2026 06:14 pm IST