Karnataka approaches Supreme Court to release funds to deal with drought

The chief minister said that the state government has allocated Rs 650 crore from the state treasury.

Bangalore:

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said the state government has filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking directions from the Center for immediate release of National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) disbursements to the state, which is suffering from severe drought .

He accused the Center of sitting on Karnataka’s plea to release funds amid severe drought and said the state government was forced to approach the Supreme Court.

“The Karnataka government filed a writ petition against the Center in the Supreme Court today after waiting for five months. Since the Supreme Court was on a week-long holiday, we did not get the approval. We expect the approval next week ,” Siddaramaiah told reporters here.

He explained that the petition was filed under Article 32 of the Indian Constitution to direct the Indian government to immediately release the NDR funds, which were supposed to be released by the Center in accordance with the law.

“We have declared drought in 223 taluks out of 236 taluks in the state. We have conducted four assessments. The crop damage area is 48 lakh hectares. We have sent three consecutive memorandums to the Center but none Got compensated not a penny so far,” the chief minister claimed.

In October last year, a central team came to the state for inspection and submitted the inter-ministerial central team (IMCT) report to the federal government. Siddarama said the Center will have to provide compensation to the state within a month of submitting the report.

He added that despite the central team’s report, there was no response from the federal government to the memorandum and Karnataka Revenue Minister Krishna Bair Gowda traveled to Delhi but did not get a chance to meet the central minister.

“Later, on December 20, Krishnabhair Gowda and I went to Delhi again, met with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and made demands. However, we did not receive compensation. Later, I Met Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally in Bengaluru and made a request.” “The request. However, no solution was found,” charged Siddaramaiah.

The chief minister said that considering the problems faced by 33.44 lakh farmers, the state government allocated Rs 650 crore from the state exchequer and distributed Rs 2,000 to each of them. He said that we have successfully dealt with the drought situation in the state.

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