From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Dec 31: With major portion of Karnataka reeling under drought conditions in 139 out of the 176 taluks in 29 of the 30 districts being declared drought affected and crop failure in 36.35 lakh hectares, Karnataka has sought a central relief of Rs 4,702.54 crore under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for undertaking relief measures.
A delegation led by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiahcalled on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi and submitted a detailed memorandum seeking funds under NDRF as the State had lost standing crops worth Rs 17,193 crore.
Prime Minister Modi had given the appointment to the Chief Minister after the former had denied appointment to the latter on two occasions earlier.
In a letter to Modi, the Chief Minister said 139 taluks out of 176 had been declared drought hit affecting 35 lakh farmers.
The severe drought has adversely affected agriculture, power generation and farmers, he said.
An official team of the centre has already visited drought hit districts of the State and assessed the damage to various crops and submitted its report to the Union Home Ministry.
The misery has been compounded by rainfall deficit of 80 per cent during the Rabi season. During 2015-16 too, 137 taluks were declared drought hit.
The delegation also briefed the Prime Minister about crop loss occurred in five districts of the northern parts of the State owing to excess rain during September.
An additional memorandum seeking Rs 386.44 crore for flood relief has also been submitted to the Union Home Minister on October 28, 2016, the chief minister said.
Referring to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the chief minister thanked the Centre for increasing the revised labour budget under the scheme from 6.07 crore person days to 10 crore person days.
The total revised labour budget at 10 crore person days translate to an annual outlay of Rs 3954 crore for the year 2016-17.
Until December 26, 5.82 crore man-days have been generated and the Government spent Rs 2051 crore.
The Ministry of Rural Development has released Rs 1,610 crore during the current year, which included spill-over payments of last year.
To tide over the fund crisis, the State had incurred expenditure of Rs 862 crore for implementation of the scheme to ensure timely release of wages to beneficiaries.
During the 30-minute meeting, Siddaramaiah also sought the prime minister’s intervention in resolving the nearly 30-year-old Mahadayi water-sharing dispute between Goa and Karnataka.
Union ministers from Karnataka, Ananth Kumar, D V Sadananda Gowda, Nirmala Seetharaman and Ramesh Jigajinagi, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Karnataka ministers H K Patil and Krishna Byre Gowda, Leader of the Opposition in Karnataka Assembly Jagdish Shettar and his counterpart in the Legislative Council K S Eshwarappa and JD(S) leaders H D Revanna and Appaji Gowda were part of the all-party delegation.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Siddaramaiah said the prime minister told the delegation that the high-level committee headed by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh would meet on January 4 to decide on drought relief to Karnataka.