Krishna Byregowda upset over central aid

RAICHUR: Minister for Agriculture Krishna Byregowda on Friday expressed his  displeasure over the release of Rs 1,540 crore grant to the State to  provide relief to farmers who lost their kharif crops due to the failure of monsoon during 2015.

Speaking to reporters here, Mr Byregowda said while the State  had sought an assistance of Rs 3,800 crore from the Centre, the latter  had released only half of it, only Rs 1,540 crore. “The Centre’s  discriminatory approach in releasing grants is obvious. While it has  released Rs 3,000 crore and Rs 2,000 crore respectively to the BJP-ruled states of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh,the grants released to  the state are very meagre. “With the funds released to the state, it is  difficult for us to provide adequate relief to farmers. We are  examining why the Centre has slashed the grants for us and again a   memorandum seeking more funds would be submitted,” Mr Gowda stated. Further, while the Centre had released Rs 312 crore to the State under  the Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) this year but the state had spent Rs 540  crores.

Stating that the state has experienced large scale loss of both Kharif  as well as rabi crops, Mr Gowda added that a joint survey to assess losses of Rabi crops is being carried out. “The preliminary reports say that crops in around 20 lakh hectares has been lost. The  exact loss would be known only after the joint survey is completed.  

After the report is ready a memorandum would be submitted to the Centre  seeking grants,” the Minister added.

When his attention was drawn to the large scale loss of Bt cotton crop  in Raichur district due to the Pink Bollworm pest attack, Mr Gowda   stated that a notice had been served on the companies which supplied   the seeds. “Once we get the reply, we will take action against the   companies”, he said.

However, Mr Gowda expressed dissatisfaction over the report submitted  by a team of agricultural scientists from University of  Agricultural Sciences, Raichur (UAS-R) as well as the department of  agriculture on Bt cotton destruction in Pink Bollworm pest attack on  cotton in Raichur. “As the team has not properly collected  the data, another study of agriculture scientists led by Dr B.V. Patil  has been constituted. The committee is examining whether the  pest  attack was due to environmental changes or due to the inherent defect  in the seeds. The report is expected in a couple of days,” Mr Gowda  said.