BENGALURU: With the Centre informing the Supreme Court that it will take a decision on releasing drought-relief funds to Karnataka within a week, Congress leaders have hailed the development as a victory for the state.
The matter came up for hearing in the Supreme Court on Monday, at a time when the Congress and BJP were at loggerheads making it an election issue. The Congress accused the Centre of deliberately delaying the release of the funds and the BJP hit back by accusing the state government of not being able to provide relief to farmers.
“Thanks to the intervention of the Hon. Supreme Court as the Central Government which had delayed providing drought relief funds to the farmers of Karnataka, has agreed to decide within this week,” Chief Minister Siddaramaiah posted on ‘X’.
He reiterated that the state was forced to file the writ petition seeking drought-relief funds as the central government did not take a decision on the memorandum that Karnataka submitted in September 2023.
“This is a milestone and a success in our long fight to secure justice and relief for the people of Karnataka,” he said.
Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, who was in the national capital to follow the state’s case, said the Centre, which had delayed the release of drought-relief funds for eight months, ultimately conceded to the SC’s intervention.
“In fact, the state government had submitted a memorandum to the Centre five-and-a-half months before the model code of conduct came into effect. Based on this, the central team came and conducted a review, appreciated how the state declared drought and submitted the final recommendation to the home minister on November 20. However, the central government deliberately delayed the release of funds,” he said.
Karnataka had filed the writ petition alleging that the Centre had been denying financial assistance for drought management under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, and the Manual for Drought Management.