Bengaluru, Feb 1 (IANS) Karnataka Minister for Large and Medium Industries M.B. Patil said on Sunday that while the Union Budget’s announcement on developing high-speed rail corridors between Bengaluru-Hyderabad and Bengaluru-Chennai is welcome, it offers limited benefit.
He was speaking to the media on the Union Budget for 2026-27 presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The Minister said that instead, a similar corridor should have been taken up between Bengaluru and Pune, adding that the members of Parliament from Karnataka and Maharashtra must raise this issue collectively and in a non-partisan manner.
“In both the routes announced, the trains will not even operate for 100 kilometres within Karnataka,” he said.
He expressed disappointment that this aspect had not been taken into account by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government.
Patil said the state had demanded that the Upper Krishna Project be declared a national project and that the Rs 5,600 crore assistance already announced for the Upper Bhadra Project be released.
“However, the Budget makes no mention of either. Moreover, it does not include a single scheme aimed at supporting the farming community,” he pointed out.
He said that, as in previous years, the Budget has proved disappointing for the state. However, he observed that the proposals for setting up university townships and developing five regional medical tourism hubs have been influenced by Karnataka’s KWIN City concept.
Minister Patil said the state had also sought approval for two defence corridor projects.
“Given Karnataka’s strong aerospace and defence industrial ecosystem, these should have found a place in the Budget. However, the Finance Minister did not even refer to the proposal, resulting in injustice to the state,” he noted.
He said that the KWIN City project will be implemented over a total area of 5,000 acres.
“In the first phase, it is being developed across 2,000 acres, with works currently in progress. Campuses of leading global universities, quality hospitals, and research institutions will be established as part of the project,” he said.
The minister said that several agreements have already been signed in this regard, and all these initiatives are expected to be fully realised within the next two years.
“By announcing similar projects in the Union Budget, the Central government has effectively followed Karnataka’s model,” he said.
The minister said that the biopharma hub proposal is also a reflection of the state’s initiatives.
“A dedicated vision group had been constituted in Karnataka for this purpose. It is evident that the Union Budget is drawing from Karnataka’s development-oriented models,” he said.
Minister Patil said that, considering the state’s substantial contribution in terms of tax revenue, industrial growth, and other areas, it is only fair to expect the Central government to extend more beneficial projects to Karnataka.
–IANS
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