A 42-member delegation of NRIs from 34 countries met Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar at Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, in Belagavi, seeking a separate ministry in the state government to deal with their issues.

It all began with Dr. Ronald Colaco, a businessman in the Middle East, who reminded the Karnataka government that the Congress promised a separate ministry for Kannadiga NRIs in its 2023 election manifesto.

Colaco said, “Like in Kerala, setting up a separate ministry and a single window system for the clearance of files will help the state get investments from NRIs easily. The current system is cumbersome as it involves visiting several different departments.”

The delegation, which also met Assembly Speaker UT Khader, Legislative Council Chairman Basavaraj S. Horatti and Urban Development Minister Byrati Suresh, was led by deputy chairperson of NRI forum and MLC Dr. Arathi Krishna.

Dr. Krishna said, “There are around 18 lakh NRIs from Karnataka living in different countries.”

The Chief Minister assured that he would look into their demands.

The Deputy Chief Minister said that a decision concerning this would be made in the next Budget. – editor@nrifocus.com