Kalaburagi (Karnataka) Jan 5 : A Kalyana Karnataka Development Board would be constituted within a week and a Rs 3000 crore action plan for the development of the region would be implemented within a year, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Tuesday. Bommai was speaking at the 36th Karnataka Union of Working Journalists' state-level conference, which began here on Tuesday. The Kalyan Karnataka region includes the districts of Bidar, Kalaburagi, Raichur, Yadgir, Bellary, Vijayanagara, and Koppal. They are the most backward districts in the state. The action plan would be finalised within a month after holding a meeting with the legislators of this region. The funds would be provided and the project would be implemented within a year, Bommai said. The Chief Minister said in his address that the news sector is facing many challenges. It is retaining public conscience and priorities amid privatisation, globalisation, liberalisation and market-driven business system, he said, adding that steps would be taken to provide necessary advertisements to rural newspapers, and health cards, bus passes and other facilities to rural journalists in the next budget. Bommai also appreciated the functioning of journalists during the Covid pandemic, which claimed the lives of many scribes. "The state government has paid a solatium of Rs 5 lakh for the families of those who lost their lives. We will reach out to the families which are yet to receive the amount," he said. /IANS