Mangalore, Dec 15: Minister for Municipal Administration, Hajj and Wakf Board Qamar-ul-Islam on Sunday announced that two acres of land had been identified in Kenjar close to the international airport for construction of a 'Hajj Ghar' in Mangalore and a sum of Rs 3.5 lakh has been released for the fencing of the land identified, which will be taken up immediately.
Addressing mediapersons at a press conference here on Sunday, he said that Hajj pilgrims from Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Chikmagalur, Hassan and Kodagu districts would be accommodated in the Hajj Ghar, which would be functional by 2015. Once completed, it will accommodate around 1,000 pilgrims and provisions will be made to accommodate another 1,000 pilgrims in next 5-10 years.
On the Hajj Bhavan set to come up in Bangalore, he said that the project was in its final stage and the bhavan would be ready for accommodation of Hajj pilgrims in 2014.
He said that 5 acres of land had been identified near the airport in Gulbarga for the construction of a similar Hajj Ghar in the district.
New welfare scheme for minorities
Announcing a new scheme, the minister said that a sum of Rs 25 crore had been earmarked in the budget to provide subsidy for purchasing sites for minorities. The state government will provide a subsidy of up to Rs 1 lakh each for minorities in order to purchase land, he said adding that the government would provide a subsidy of 50 percent for minorities in micro-loan scheme, which offered a subsidy of 25 per cent earlier.
Information centre in ten districts
The minister also announced the setting-up of information centres to provide information on minority schemes at district headquarters in ten districts. Each information centre will have two employees trained to provide information to people.
Municipal administration
To increase efficiency in district administration, three city municipal corporations (CMCs) in the state have been upgraded as per the requirements. A total of 18 town municipal councils (TMCs) will be upgraded to CMCs, 15 town panchayats will be upgraded to TMCs and 164 villages will be upgraded to town panchayats, said Mr Qamar-ul-Islam.
He also spoke about Bidaai scheme (Shaadi Bhagya) which offers financial assistance for unprivileged women from minority communities such as Muslims, Christians, Jains and Buddhists. He said that a sum of Rs 10 crore would be distributed among 2000 girls belonging to minority communities for their marriage.
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