HUBBALLI: Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister KH Muniyappa on Friday admitted that while the government is facing a fund crunch at present in the wake of the implementation of guarantees, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is capable of ensuring that development works continue.
Replying to a query on MLAs complaining about not getting funds for taking up works in their constituencies, Muniyappa told reporters here that a person of repute having presented 14 budgets might not have decided to implement guarantees without making basic calculations. Only after understanding the fiscal condition a budgetary allocation of Rs 50,000 crore has been made.
As far as taking development works forward, the minister said nobody should preach to the Congress as its government’s track record speaks for itself. The present financial crunch was temporary and it would be addressed in the coming days and additional funds would be allocated to take up works other than funds allocated to respective departments, he added.
Muniyappa refused to speak on power sharing in the government and the revamping of the cabinet, stating that a call would be taken by the party high command at an appropriate time. He added that Siddaramaiah is the chief minister and would continue in that post. He further stated that the Congress government was committed to the implementation of the Sadashiva Commission report on internal reservation for SCs, but would only take a decision on assessing the stand of the previous government.
Efforts on to get more rice
Stating that the Centre should not have played politics in supplying rice to the state for the Anna Bhagya scheme, Muniyappa said the Karnataka government has not sat idle by just transferring Rs 170 into the accounts of scheme beneficiaries in place of 5 kg of rice. It was in touch with rice-growing states such as Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, but has not yet received any reply from them.
While, as of now, 1.08 crore BPL card-holders are getting benefits of the Anna Bhagya Scheme and around 90 percent of beneficiaries have received Rs 170 in their accounts, 14 lakh APL families have also got 15 kg of rice a month.