BENGALURU : Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital on Tuesday and discuss about drought in the state. Karnataka has sought Rs 18,171.44 crore relief from the Centre, for which it is eligible under the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) funds.
Until recently, Siddaramaiah, who even in the winter session of the Assembly in Belagavi, had been criticising the PM that not even a penny was released from the Centre against drought relief and even Union ministers had ignored the Karnataka ministers’ attempts to meet them in this regard.
The state government has announced Rs 2,000 per farmer as the first instalment of the financial assistance, as an immediate measure to help farmers. In the Belagavi session, he also declared that the state government will waive interest payments against farm loans if farmers pay the principal amount. The government has declared 223 taluks out of 236 as drought-hit, and the crop loss across 48.19 lakh hectares, translates to over Rs 40,000 crore.
It will be Siddaramaiah’s second official meeting with the PM after the former became Karnataka CM and his maiden visit was a courtesy call. This time it is happening following a formal letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, requesting an early release of funds under NDRF to tackle the drought situation in the state and Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda submitting the proposal to the Centre.
Opposition Leader in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge also raised the issue in the winter session of Parliament, demanding the release of Rs 18,171 crore from NDRF funds for Karnataka. The Centre’s financial support is required to provide farmers input subsidies and to take up relief measures as the water levels in reservoirs are alarmingly low.
Siddaramaiah will meet Modi along with Gowda at 11 am. Various issues, including farmer suicides and an increase in the man-days from 100 to 150 per head per year under MNREGA, are likely to come for discussion.
Opposition Leader in the Assembly R Ashoka through a series of posts on ‘X’ suggested Siddaramaiah to keep aside politics and exhibit statesmanship to safeguard the interests of the state and the 6.5 crore Kannadigas as the PM has given him an appointment to discuss the issues of the state.