Bengaluru: Subsequent to the massive demonstration staged by ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers at Bengaluru recently seeking fulfilment of their demands, the State Government on Friday decided to provide a one-time incentive of Rs.3,000 each to all ASHA workers.

Briefing press persons after the Cabinet meeting here yesterday, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J.C. Madhuswamy said that  all 41,628 ASHA workers will get an incentive of Rs.3,000 and the outgo owing to the incentive would be around Rs.12.48 crore.

Continuing, Madhuswamy said that a new Committee has been constituted to look into the encroachments of Government lands in and around Bengaluru on the lines of the A.T. Ramaswamy Committee that had earlier filed a detailed report on encroachment of Government lands.

The six-member Committee will be headed by BJP MLA and former Assembly Speaker K.G. Bopaiah. The Committee Members are MLAs Araga Jnanendra, S.R. Vishwanath, A.T. Ramaswamy, Rajashekar Patil and Narasimha Naik aka Raju Gowda, he said.

Pandavapura and Chunchanakatte Sugar factories to be leased

The other major decisions taken by the Cabinet included leasing of the sick Pandavapura and Chunchanakatte Sugar Mills to private operators for a period of 40  years, administrative approval for increasing the capacity of Hemavathi Canal in the stretch from 0 to 70-km from 1,200 cusecs to 2,400 cusecs at a cost of Rs.475 crore and building of special godowns in all the 30 district centres to house EVMs and VVPATs at a cost of Rs.123 crore.