The State government has taken steps to explore the potential of core competencies of coastal Karnataka in its budget proposals for 2019-20, according to Issac Vas, Vice-President of Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI).

Karnataka’s budget for 2019-20 proposes to prepare a feasibility report for developing a ‘knowledge-health corridor’ from Manipal in Udupi district to Konaje in Dakshina Kannada district.

Core competencies

Vas said that education and healthcare are the core competencies of the region. These core competencies were developed by enterprising people over the years without any support from the government.

Welcoming the government’s proposal in this regard, he said some thought has gone into exploring the core competencies of the region in this budget. If something concrete comes out of the feasibility report, the government could do something positive for this area. This will definitely be a boost to these two sectors in the region, he said.

On the proposal to earmark ₹7 crore for the beach tourism development at Panambur and Sasihithlu in Dakshina Kannada district, he said a lot can be done with this, if spent wisely. Certain amount of infrastructure can be provided in these two places.

Sops for MSMEs

Terming the proposals for MSMEs as encouraging, BA Nazeer, president of Canara Plastic Manufacturers’ and Traders’ Association, said the government has proposed a new industrial policy for attracting investment in the backward areas of tier-2 and tier-3 centres of the state.

This policy should be implemented without break after the expiry of the present policy in September, he said and added that new industrial clusters announced last year are yet to be implemented.

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