Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (EP)
Mangaluru, July 6: “The state budget presented by Karnataka chief minister (CM), H D Kumaraswamy, has totally overlooked coastal Karnataka on account of the policy of vengeance pursued by him. The CM has not said even a word about the coast in his budget. This happens to be the worst budget in the history of Karnataka,” said Mangaluru south MLA, D Vedavyas Kamath.
“A number of budgets were presented in Karnataka so far. But people have not till now come across the level of vengeance the CM has pursued against the people of the coast for rejecting JD (S) and Congress candidates. There were artificial floods last month due to heavy rain in Mangaluru and surrounding areas, the intensity of which was neither heard of nor seen since independence. Hundreds of houses were destroyed and thousands of people experienced huge losses. Water entered houses and shops and items and good worth lacs of rupees were damaged. The difficulties were explained, and requests for additional compensation were made to the chief minister. But not even a single paisa has been set aside by him for this purpose in the budget and the hardships faced by the people have been totally ignored. I had requested for a package of Rs 120 crores for those who lost land due to increased height of Thumbay dam. There is no mention of it in the budget. In this, I have not taken into account the requests by me for drainage and drinking water projects" Kamath explained.
The loan waiver of fishermen, construction of new jetty, funds for development of port, as also hiking the horse power of mechanized boats of fishermen for subsidized fuel, increase in the quantum of subsidized diesel from 350 litres to 500 litres had been requested. As the fishermen go into deep sea fishing, they are facing financial constraints. A delegation of MLAs in the coast had met the chief minister requesting to waive fishermen’s loans and announce some other schemes for them. Fishermen have not received the money due to them on account of subsidized fuel since last February. But CM Kumaraswamy has not even had a hard look at the issues bothering the coast,” said the BJP MLA.
“Kumaraswamy who has announced loan waiver of farmers of up to Rs two lac rupees says that loans amounting to Rs 34,000 crore have been waived. But the scheme is of five years. Therefore only Rs 6,500 crore would be waived per year. There is no mention from where will this money come. On the other hand petrol cess is increased by 32% making it costlier by Rs 1.14 per litre. Diesel price will increase by Rs 1.12 per litre. Electricity unit rate also have gone up. These will be a burden for the common man. He has announced incentives to three star hotels and service apartments. Therefore, it is an anti-people budget,” he remarked.
“He has neglected heath, urban development, irrigation, PWD, as well as Kannada and culture departments. He has presented a budget of only for Hassan, Mandya and Ramanagara districts. People will give a fitting reply to the budget tabled by the coalition government of JD(S) and Congress in the upcoming Mangaluru Corporation and Lok Sabha elections,” he said.