Mysuru: Reacting to the Supreme Court's direction to release 2,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu daily until further orders, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah wondered aloud, "Where is the water to release?" He was speaking to mediapersons at his residence at Sharadadevinagar here on Thursday evening.
Answering a question on the drought, he said, "The Central government has released drought relief funds of Rs 1700 crores, whereas we had sought Rs 4700 crores as per NDRF norms. This amount is too less. We will submit another memorandum for release of more funds," he said.
To a question related to the candidate for the Nanjangud by-election, he said, "The date for the election is yet to be announced. I have held meetings with the leaders in Nanjangud on the selection of the candidate."
Mr Siddaramaiah also revealed that officers had brought to his notice the bird flu threat at Mysuru Zoo. The zoo will remain closed for a month from January 4 to February 2 as a precautionary measure.
Reacting to the molestation case on New Year's eve in Bengaluru, the CM said, "We will initiate action as per the law irrespective of who they are. I have already given directions to our officers to take legal action against the accused."
Rs 1782 crore? That’s all you get as drought relief, says Centre
Responding to the plea for drought relief by the all- party delegation led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on December 30, the Centre has sanctioned Rs. 1782.44 crore to help the state tackle the situation. A high level committee meeting chaired by Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh in Delhi on Thursday decided to sanction the amount from the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) after examining the report of the Inter- Ministerial Central Team (IMCT), which recently visited the drought- hit taluks of Karnataka and assessed the crop damage caused in these parts by flood and drought in turns.But the state government seems far from happy with the amount sanctioned under NDRF. Recalling that the state had sought Rs. 4702 crore under the fund from the Centre, Agriculture Minister, Krishna Byre Gowda pointed out that the Centre had in the past allocated as much as Rs. 3000 core to some drought-hit states. "The Rs. 1782 crore given is inadequate to help us tackle this very severe drought. As there isn't much pressure on the Centre from other states for assistance under NDRF now, unlike last year, we were expecting a much higher allocation. We met the Prime Minister and very specifically requested him to ensure a more liberal consideration", Mr. Gowda said, when contacted. But the state BJP welcomed the Centre's decision to make a "bigger allocation" to Karnataka under NDRF.
