The NDA government at the Centre and the Congress government in the State have become insensitive to the problems faced by farmers in drought-hit areas, H.D. Kumaraswamy, State president of the Janata Dal (Secular), said on Monday.
The State had requested aid of ₹6,000 crore from the Centre to compensate the crop losses suffered by farmers in drought-affected areas. The Centre had promised to provide ₹1,700 crore, but it is unfortunate that the amount has not yet been released, Mr. Kumaraswamy said at a press conference.
He said even the Congress government in the State has done little to mitigate the suffering of the farmers affected by drought. The government had recently extended the scheme of waiving the interest for defaulters on crop loans taken from cooperative societies as long as they repay the principal by March. “It is unfair to expect repayment of the principal amount by farmers who don’t have money even to buy sowing seeds and fertilisers for the coming kharif season. This move will not be of help to the farmers,” he said.
Also, though the Centre had announced the Market Intervention Scheme to stabilise the price of arecanut, no procurement was made. To extend relief to the farmers who are suffering because of the cash crunch caused by demonetisation, the Centre had announced waiver of ₹660 crore interest on short-term crop loans borrowed from cooperative banks for November and December 2016. But this was a mere eyewash, Mr. Kumaraswamy said.
He said the people in drought-hit areas of Karnataka were disillusioned with both the BJP and the Congress. He expressed confidence that the farming community in Karnataka would back the JD(S) in the forthcoming Assembly elections.
Irregularities
He also alleged large-scale irregularities in the implementation of works under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) in drought-affected areas. In many villages in Ramanagaram district, the money has been drawn by furnishing fake bills without executing the work, he said, demanding a thorough probe into the matter.
He said the JD(S) would announce its first list of candidates for the Assembly polls in March. Mr. Kumaraswamy also took part in a convention of JD(S) activists in the city in which H.N. Niranjan assumed charge as president of the party’s district unit. Sorab MLA Madhu Bangarappa, Shivamogga Rural MLA Sharada Poorya Naik, and zilla panchayat president Jyothi Kumar were among those present.
