The Centre asked the State government on Thursday to “modify” its proposal for drought relief, which would be considered by the Empowered Group of Ministers on drought at its next sitting scheduled to be held in a few days.
Addressing presspersons here, Union Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar and Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh, who held a meeting with Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, said Karnataka had been asked to divide the proposal into two categories.
Mr. Ramesh said the first would be the steps that needed to be taken to provide immediate relief, and the second about the measures that would help the State cope with droughts in future.
The meeting was attended by senior Ministers, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah, and officials from several Ministries and departments at the Centre and the State.
“The revised memorandum would be submitted by the State in two days,” Mr. Ramesh said.
In his opening remarks at the meeting, Mr. Pawar said he was in Bangalore to “get first-hand information” on the drought situation in the State.
Responding to Mr. Shettar’s complaint that the Centre had released only a fraction of the money sought for drought relief, Mr. Pawar said: “The factual position seems to be different from what the Chief Minister has said.”
Mr. Shettar said the State was reeling under a drought that was “unprecedented in the last four decades.”
He said the government had declared 146 of the 176 taluks in the State drought-affected.
Mr. Shettar said the State submitted two memoranda to the Centre, seeking drought relief. The first one, sent in November 2011, sought Rs. 2,605.99 crore was sought, but the Centre approved only Rs. 186.68 crore, of which Rs. 70.23 crore was released.
The second request, made by the State in May 5, sought Rs. 5,864 crore. However, the Centre released only Rs. 282.35 crore, Mr. Shettar observed. “Given the magnitude of the problem, this relief has been totally insufficient,” he remarked. He said Karnataka would get only Rs. 224 crore out of the Centre's drought relief package of Rs. 1,931 crore. The Chief Minister said that the decision to waive crop loans would result in a burden of over Rs. 3,500 crore. Urging the Centre to “come to the rescue of the State government,” Mr. Shettar called upon the Centre to bear 75 per cent of the additional burden caused by the loan waiver.
Countering the argument that the State had not been sanctioned enough funds, Mr. Ramesh pointed out that the Centre released Rs. 286 crore for drinking water schemes, even though the State had sought only Rs. 250 crore.
“We have agreed to release Rs 700 crore once the demand is made by the State government,” he said.
The Union Minister said the outlay for the programme, initially set at Rs. 2,400 crore, was likely to increase by Rs. 500 to Rs. 600 crore because of the drought. The Centre had decided to provide 150 days (normally 100 days) of work a year to one adult member per family in drought-affected taluks, Mr. Ramesh added.
