KLES chairperson and former Rajya Sabha member Prabhakar Kore urged the Union minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari and Union consumer affairs minister Pralhad Joshi, who were on the dais, to get the Belagavi-Nippani-Kolhapur-Karad new railway line sanctioned between Karnataka and Maharashtra by exerting pressure on the railway minister.

He was speaking after accepting an honour from the citizens of Nippani town for his contribution to the education, health, and agriculture sectors over the past 40 years. VSM's Somashekhar Kothiwale Institute of Technology organised the programme on Friday, during the inauguration of its new MBA and BCA building in Nippani town. It is a long-pending demand that helps boost economic activities in both states. Since the Union minister of state for railways, V Somanna, is from Karnataka, both ministers should strive to getting the project sanctioned, Kore requested. Meanwhile, he invited both ministers to attend the inauguration of the newly constructed 200-bed cancer hospital in Belagavi next month and the super speciality hospital in Hubballi.

Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and Pralhad Joshi, along with public works minister Satish Jarkiholi, lauded the contribution of Prabhakar Kore, especially in the health and education sectors, as well as in the cooperative sector. It is the leadership of Kore that took the KLE Society to new heights by starting institutions across the nation and abroad too, Nitin Gadkari stated.

Meanwhile, Pralhad Joshi mentioned the contribution of Nitin Gadkari to the Belagavi region by sanctioning four major highway projects, including the Belagavi bypass, Hyderabad-Raichur, Koganolli-Belagavi, and Gokak-Kagawad.

Chandrakant Kothiwale, chairperson of Vidya Sanvardhan Mandal (VSM-Nippani), said that established in 1960 to provide education to Kannada and Marathi students in the border town of Nippani, VSM is delivering quality education. Shortly, we are going to start nursing and ayurvedic colleges, he said.

MLAs Ganesh Hukkeri, Vitthal Halagekar, Duryodhan Aihole, Arvind Bellad, Shashikala Jolle, MLC Prakash Hukkeri, BUDA Chairman Laxmanrao Chingale, and former MLAs Kakasaheb Patil, Vilas Joshi, and Veerkumar Patil were present.