BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday called on Union home minister Rajnath Singh and agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh in New Delhi, and appealed to them to sanction drought and flood relief funds of over Rs 5,000 crores, forthwith.
During his meeting with Mr Rajnath Singh, Mr Siddaramaiah mentioned that the state government has submitted a memorandum seeking a central aid of Rs 4,702 crores to provide succor to drought-hit farmers, and for Rs 386 crores to take up relief work in flood-hit areas.
Meanwhile, sources in the party disclosed that Mr Siddaramaiah updated Mr Singh about the impact of drought and floods on agricultural crops as well as the farming community, and urged him to take action at the earliest to release the central aid.
According to sources, the home minister is likely to call a meeting to decide on the quantum of relief funds to be released to Karnataka from National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF).
In another meeting with Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh, Mr Siddaramaiah expressed his concern over the delay in release of central aid to drought-hit farmers. “Our state is facing drought for the sixth consecutive year and has declared 110 taluks of 25 districts as drought-hit during the 2016 kharif season. A central team, which visited the state last month to assess the situation, has already submitted the report and based on which the agriculture ministry has prepared a report, but, still central aid is not released yet,” Mr Siddaramaiah was quoted as tell the minister. The CM presented a memorandum, requesting the Union government to announce a bonus of Rs 700 for ragi and jowar above the minimum support price (MSP) in order to help the small and marginal farmers at one hand and benefit poor consumers on the other.
He explained in detail the plight of millet growing farmers from drought prone areas who contribute 62 per cent of the country’s ragi production.
