Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi has promised to use his good offices to get the Centre’s approval for the State government’s proposals on development projects in the State.
Speaking to presspersons here on Sunday, Mr. Joshi said that he and his party leaders were already able to get approval for a ₹ 315-crore proposal to construct a flyover-bridge in Hubballi from Union Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari.
He said that another flyover-bridge project is pending and he would get it sanctioned if the State government submits a proposal at the earliest.
“Besides, I will extend all cooperation to get the Centre’s nod for other development projects for which the State government submits proposals,” he added.
On the Koyna river water sharing issue, Mr. Joshi said that he had had talks with Water Resource Minister D.K. Shivakumar.
“If he agrees, we would lead a delegation to meet Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis,” he added.
On the major challenges he may face as Union Minister, Mr. Joshi said that his immediate challenge would be to ensure that the 40-day monsoon session of Parliament, which will begin on June 17, passed off without any disturbance.
The Union government is ready to discuss issues but it needs complete cooperation from the Opposition for the smooth conduct of the session. He said that he would meet senior Opposition leaders within a week and seek their cooperation. The need of the hour is to debate and discuss issues and find a solution to the problems which the people are facing. Another challenge is to get legal hurdles cleared to solve the shortage of two lakh million tonnes of coal, he said and added that he would try to supply coal to States without any hurdles.
Later, Mr. Joshi visited different religious places, organisations, garlanded statues of eminent persons and met party workers. He also visited the RSS office and met senior RSS leaders there.
The former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, Hubballi-Dharwad West MLA Arvind Bellad and local BJP leaders were present on this occasion.