Despite meetings, no specific grants for coastal Karnataka: Mangaluru City South MLA

Coastal Karnataka legislators express dissatisfaction over the lack of specific budget allocations, deeming pre-Budget meetings ineffective.

D. Vedavyasa Kamath, Mangaluru City South MLA, said that legislators from coastal Karnataka districts will express their displeasure over no specific allocations for Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, and Uttara Kannada districts in the State Budget 2026-27. A meeting of coastal Karnataka legislators in this regard, under the leadership of V. Sunil Kumar, Karkala MLA, will be held shortly, he noted.

Talking to reporters on Saturday, March 7, Mr. Kamath said U.T. Khader, Speaker and Mangaluru MLA, chaired two pre-Budget meetings each in Mangaluru and Bengaluru about proposals related to coastal Karnataka that need to be included in the Budget. Dakshina Kannada district in-charge Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao too attended the meetings.

“With no specific allocations made for coastal Karnataka in the Budget, the whole exercise of holding pre-Budget meetings has turned out to be a futile exercise,” Mr. Kamath said.

Referring to the announcement of setting up a medical college in Puttur, the MLA stated that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah only said a 300-bed hospital has been sanctioned, without making any specific budgetary allocation for the medical college. There was no need for Chief Minister to announce the opening of 12 police stations, including two in Dakshina Kannada, in the Budget, Mr. Kamath added.

The MLA further said no specific allocations have been made to boost the growth of Mangaluru in the IT and textile sectors. The announcement of setting up an IT park in Mangaluru was the assurance made in earlier Budgets and it has been repeated again. The promise of according a separate budget for the coastal Karnataka region has not been realised so far. Fishermen are yet to receive the promised life insurance worth ₹10 lakh.

More than 75% of the announcements made in the first Budget, and 85% of announcement made in the second Budget by Mr. Siddramaiah in his present term, are yet to be realised, Mr. Kamath said.