BENGALURU: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said the delay in release of drought relief funds to Karnataka is not intentional as the vetting of reports by the concerned departments takes time. The minister said the Union Government is not responsible for the delay. During his recent visit to the state, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had blamed the state government for the delay in submission of its memorandum.
“Karnataka government submitted a memorandum in Oct, 2023 following which the Inter Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) conducted the assessment which in November went to the Agriculture Ministry along with the twelve disasters notified. They submitted their report to the Sub Committee of the National Executive Committee that placed it before the High Level Committee (HLC). But on March.28, 2024, it has been written to ECI to get approval in the context of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for convening the HLC meeting and awaiting for the same,‘’ she detailed.
The Congress government has approached the Supreme Court with a writ petition seeking direction to the Centre to release the funds. Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress is also trying to set a narrative that the Centre is averse to the state in the tax devolution. On Saturday, Nirmala Sitharaman, Rajya Sabha member from the state, rushed in to control the damage. Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda had invited her for an open debate, but she chose to address a press conference.
She categorically rejected the narrative set by Congress saying that the people knew that Modi had fulfilled their aspirations. She clarified that there is no provision in NDRF act for the compensation, special assistance or interim relief as the state governments have to provide relief for the disasters.
“I agree that in such matters the delay is completely avoidable, but the state governments have to provide the relief immediately under the State Disaster Relief Fund(SDFR)”, she said. She claimed that the Centre has released its share of Rs 697 crore, out of Rs 928 crore, in two instalments of Rs 348 crore to the state well in advance under SDRF. “I am not harping on to cover for the delay in NDRF, but the Centre did not wait for the disaster to happen to release funds under SDRF,‘’ she said.
The HLC is awaiting for ECI’s approval to hold the meeting to take a call on releasing NDRF funds against input subsidy and gratuitous relief. Nirmala Sitharaman defended that the 15th Finance Commission did not recommend Rs 5,495 crore special grants to Karnataka in its final report for 2021-2026 which the Centre has accepted.
