Get ready to pay on state highways too

Get ready to pay more while travelling on state highways. At the legislative council on Tuesday, the ruling party and the opposition agreed on the issue. PWD minister CM Udasi assured the house that the toll would be nominal and would not burden the common man.

The suggestion was made by Congress MLC RV Venkatesh, who had earlier raised the question about the mismanagement of state highways. The government accepted that about 70% of the state highways had potholes. The PWD ministry said that out of 20,769.78km of state highways, about 14,305.16km had potholes.

Venkatesh suggested that there is nothing wrong in imposing a nominal toll for the highways’ maintenance. The PWD minister explained that already a nominal toll is being collected on eight state highways and it is being planned to extend this to 15-20 state highways. Tender had been called in this regard, he added.
Udasi further said that the toll would not be collected from two-wheelers and the amount would be less than other roads.
‘Urine good for crops’

The question on usage of urine as fertilizer provided for light-hearted discussion in the council. The question was raised by Congress MLC KC Kondaiah about researches confirming that human urine was superior to cows’; he wanted to know how the government planned to utilise it.

Agriculture minister Umesh V Katti informed that urine would bring down the usage of chemical fertilizers by 30% (i.e. eight lakh tonnes). “The government had already experimented it on 13 crops and it had yielded 12% to 13% more. But, the problem is with getting organic certification from the international community.

Currently, it does not identify urine as organic and the debate is still continuing whether to declare urine as organic or not. Once it gets the nod, we can evolve a policy,” the minister said.

The debate took a lighter turn as JD(S) leader of opposition in council, MC Nanaiah, urged that the government should order that every individual should urinate on farmlands. BJP MLC G Madhusudhan asked him where Bangaloreans should go if it was made a rule. Katti said people are being taught to use toilets these days and this would create confusion. MLC Doddarange Gowda even recited a poem in praise of the usage of urine.