BENGALURU: Karnataka forest minister
Eshwar Khandre
on Monday said the state government will pay the
hospitality bill
worth Rs 80 lakh of the PM Modi’s visit to
Mysuru
, which he took last year in April.
In a statement, the minister’s office said it is a tradition of the state government to host dignitaries like the PM and the President when they come.
But due to assembly polls in Karnataka in April last year, the state government was not involved in planning of the programme (
Project Tiger
).
Khandre said that it was purely a Central government programme. Initially, they had planned to spend Rs 3 crore but the expenditure incurred was around 6.3 crore. So, balance Rs 3.3 crore has to come from the National Tiger Conservation Authority. “The state government’s forest department had written to them (authority). They informed that the hotel bill (Rs 80 lakh) should be reimbursed by the state and we have decided to reimburse. So, there is no issue,” he added.
