Don’t show your anger on Karnataka farmer, Minister to Union Home Minister
BENGALURU: “You (Bharatiya Janata Party) lost power in Karnataka in 2023 Assembly polls and It is not right on your part to show your anger against farmers of the State,” was the reaction of Minister for Revenue Krishna Byre Gowda at the Central Government expressing ire over “delay” in release of drought-relief to Karnataka by the BJP led Central Government while stating that it was Karnataka which was the first to submit a memorandum seeking relief for drought-relief under National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) on September 23, 2023.
Gowda drew the attention of Union Minister for Home Amit Shah currently on a visit to Karnataka that the State submitted first memorandum to the Central Government, Karnataka submitted its two supplementary memorandums seeking funds but nothing substantial and asked Amit Shah to get the funds released to bail out farmers from the distress situation. Gowda asked Shah to announce fund release to Karnataka to deal with the drought and observed that “delay” in release of funds to tackle drought would be grave “injustice” to the farmers.
The Revenue Minister also refuted the statement of Union Minister for Finance Nirmala Sitaraman that funds have been released from NDRF to Karnataka.
Over the efforts to get funds released from the Centre, Gowda said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has written a couple of letters to the Central Government seeking early release of funds but nothing substantial and Chief Minister also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi in December last year and apprised of the situation in Karnataka and Modi was also reminded over “delay” in release of funds during his visit to Bengaluru last month.
A team from the Centre assessed the ground realities in Karnataka in October last year and submitted a report to the Central Government but the report has been gathering dust, alleged the Minister for Revenue.
Taking Central Government to task, Gowda stated that “We are not begging but it is the duty of the Central Government and also Constitutional obligation to help farmers when in distress” and said that he does not know the reasons for the Central Government to “delay” release of funds to tackle drought in Karnataka which has declared 223 taluks as severe drought hit on September 13, 2023.
In the memorandums to the Central Government, Gowda said the State Government sought Rs 18, 172 crore from NDRF and from it, Rs 4,663 is meant towards crop compensation suffered by farmers owing to deficit rainfall. Since, there is a “delay" in release of funds by the Central Government, Gowda said the State Government came to the rescue of farmers and Rs 2,000 has been directly deposited into the bank accounts of farmers towards the first installment. A sum of Rs 628 crore has been spent by the State Government to pay to the farmers.
Till date, as many as 33 lakh farmers have been disbursed cash while another 1.60 lakh farmers would be getting cash benefit from the State Government after verification of their Aadhar number, bank accounts among others.
He appealed to Opposition party leaders-BJP and Janata Dal Secular (JDS) to impress upon Amit Shah and get the funds released for Karnataka and otherwise, (your concern for the State) would be construed as a “drama.”
