Legislators to visit Karwar naval base

BENGALURU: Karnataka legislators will get a chance to visit the

naval base

in Karwar on November 18 during the Belagavi legislature session.

Legislative council

chairman D H Shankaramurthy on Friday said legislators from the council, comprising 75 members, will be taken to the naval base during the extended 10-day session being held at Suvarna Soudha from November 13. He said the invitation was extended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi considering Karnataka was celebrating 60 years of Vidhana Soudha.

The Seabird naval base in Karwar found a place on the country’s defence map in 2004. The navy conceived the project in the 1980s, and Karwar was preferred to other ports because of its geographical advantage and strategic location. It has emerged as the navy’s third major base after Mumbai and Visakhapatnam. A unique feature of the project was its ship lift and ship transfer system.

14 bills to be tabled

Fourteen bills approved by the President will be placed in the house during the session. In all, 805 questions, including 75 starred and 730 non-starred, have been received, Shankaramurthy said.

To reduce expenditure, he said the government has decided to offer a simple lunch and no dinner. In the past, both lunch and dinner were served to the legislators and officials attending the session. “We have decided to pay a conveyance allowance of Rs 2,500 per day to each legislator putting up in Belagavi and Rs 5,000 to each legislator staying in the neighbouring Dharwad district,” he said.