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Bengaluru: The Karnataka cabinet on Thursday decided to exert pressure on the central government to provide relief for the state’s mango growers, who are facing severe distress due to a sharp decline in market prices during the current harvest season.

Addressing reporters after the meeting, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil said the cabinet discussed the plight of mango growers, especially concerns raised by Ministers from Kolar, Chikkaballapura, Bengaluru rural and Mumbai-Karnataka region.

“There have been huge losses and the Chief Minister has been advised regarding providing relief. The CM has instructed Agriculture Minister Cheluvarayaswamy to discuss with the Union Minister once again,” he said.

The state Agriculture Minister N Cheluvarayaswamy has been instructed to visit Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan in New Delhi if required and “put pressure on the Centre to get as much higher relief possible”.

Asked whether the state government has committed to providing any relief to mango growers, the Minister said, “No, we are putting pressure on the central government and if our share has to be there in that, it will be considered.” Regarding CM Siddaramaiah’s letter to his Andhra Pradesh counterpart Chandrababu Naidu to withdraw the ban on entry of “Totapuri Mangoes” into his state, he said the issue was raised by Minister K H Muniyappa, but there was no detailed discussion on this.

Siddaramaiah had also written to the Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Shivaraj Singh Chouhan last week, seeking an urgent Price Deficiency Payment and Market Intervention Scheme for mango farmers in Karnataka.

The Cabinet has approved a cashless health scheme of up to Rs 5 lakh annually through “Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust” for about 3 lakh employees working on contract, outsourced and honorarium basis in government departments and their dependents.

“Under this scheme, there will be a monthly contribution of Rs 100 from the employees and the balance amount will be borne by the government,” the minister said.

The cabinet has approved a plan to implement primary health care services in remote areas of the state under the Department of Health and Family Welfare at an estimated cost of Rs. 15.97 crores. This initiative will involve deploying mobile health units (MHUs) to deliver primary health services in the state.

The Cabinet has also resolved to declare an area of 5,959.322 hectares, including the forest area and the area up to 6 km along the Honnavar sea coast in Uttara Kannada district, as Apsarakonda-Mugali Marine Wildlife Sanctuary.

The revised estimate of Rs 742 crores has been approved by the cabinet for the construction of the new Anubhav Mantapa (considered to be the first-ever socio-religious parliament founded by 12 century social reformer Basaveshwara) being constructed in Basavakalyana in Bidar district.

“Earlier, the cost was Rs 612 crores and considering the GST the revised estimate,” Patil said, adding that efforts are being made to complete the work within a year.

Patil said the cabinet meeting at Nandi Hills in neighbouring Chikkaballapura may take place on July 16 or 17. The meeting was actually scheduled on Thursday (today), but it was cancelled and held at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru Responding to a question about the reason for postponing the cabinet meeting at Nandi Hills, he said, “Some proposals for the region (Kolar, Chikkaballapura, Bengaluru rural) had not been received from some departments. It was postponed with the intention that the decisions taken there should be effective for the development of that region. The postponement was based on the request of some ministers from the region.”