Railway station near Bajpe Airport to be pursued with Railways

The Hindu
MANGALORE Jan 25: The Dakshina Kannada district administration will take up the issue of constructing a railway station at Porkodi near Bajpe Airport with the Southern Railway, district in-charge secretary Bharatlal Meena has said. "Deputy Commissioner M. Maheshwar Rao will write to the railway authorities in this regard soon and the State Government will pursue the matter with them," he added.
Briefing presspersons after reviewing the development activities here on Thursday, Mr. Meena said the meeting had considered a request from Airports Authority of India to acquire 55 acres of land for a parallel taxiway and an additional 80 acres to extend the new runway at Bajpe.
"The State Government will meet the cost of land acquisition," Mr. Meena said and added that he would take up the matter with the Infrastructure Department.
Rangamandira
Stating that contractors had not come forward to bid for the construction of Rangamandira at Kadri, Mr. Meena said, "The last date for submitting the bids is January 28. If the impasse continues, the administration may well entrust the task to Karnataka Land Army Corporation."
The engineering division of Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat had extended the last date to submit bids for the project four times.
Vented dam
On the second vented dam at Thumbay to meet the drinking water needs of residents of Mangalore, he said Mr. Rao was in touch with the Urban Development Department in that regard. The Karnataka Power Corporation might be asked to construct the dam with the corporation and State Government sharing its estimated cost of Rs. 40 crore equally.
Action plan would be prepared for the rail over-bridges or under-bridges at various locations, including one each at Padil and Jeppu.
The administration had brought the matter to the notice of the Principal Secretary, Department of Infrastructure, Mr. Meena said.
Stating that he would take it up with the Railway Ministry, he expressed confidence about the Ministry clearing the proposals.
The Mangalore Urban Development Authority and Mangalore City Corporation would identify the locations for commercial complexes at Hampankatta, Urwa Stores and Urwa Market, Mr. Meena said.
Drinking water
Mr. Rao said the corporation would shortly float expression of interest for the projects to be taken up on a public-private partnership basis. This would help these bodies earn a regular income through the venture, he said.
Mangalore Electricity Supply Company Ltd. had been directed to energise all drinking water projects on priority in view of the impending summer.
In addition, taluks had been told to submit action plans to address water scarcity problem during summer.
Their demands would be projected to the Government for sanctioning additional funds, he said.
Demand for water transportation in certain places through tanker would be considered on priority, he added.
Training for youth
The administration was in touch with the Director of Employment Training to provide vocational education to unemployed youth in the district, Mr. Meena said. "We are contemplating on using the funds from the Ministry of NRI Affairs for training youth who want to work abroad. Steps will be taken to harness the potential of Industrial Training Institutes in providing the training for youth. It will enable the youth to build their career," he added.