MANDYA: Irrigation Minister N Cheluvarayaswamy on Saturday hit back at Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel HD Kumaraswamy for his criticism of the state government’s drought relief measures for farmers, saying one should assess one’s own capabilities before questioning others.
“This year, the Centre was supposed to release Rs 1,230 crore to Karnataka under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), of which 20% is the state’s own share. The Centre has released only Rs 430 crore,” Cheluvarayaswamy said.
Reacting to Kumaraswamy’s remark at the progress review meeting organised by Guarantee Scheme Implementation Authority at Zilla Panchayat auditorium on Saturday that the state’s 136 Congress MLAs lacked the competence to provide relief to farmers, Cheluvarayaswamy said the JDS leader should first demonstrate his own effectiveness.
The Nagamangala MLA challenged Kumaraswamy to first secure the state’s due share of funds from the Centre if he had the “mettle” to do so. He said the state government was aware of the quantum of relief to be provided to farmers once the funds were received from the Centre.
“At present, relief is being provided to farmers from the state’s own resources,” he said.