Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said that his government will extend support for nurturing and propagating arts, culture and tradition.
“Despite severe drought in the State for the second year in succession, the government has decided to hold cultural festivals all over the State and extend support for nurturing and propagating arts, culture and tradition and to provide a platform for artistes to exhibit their talent,” he said.
Mr. Siddaramaiah was speaking after inaugurating Hampi Utsav here, the erstwhile seat of the Vijayanagar empire, on Thursday.
According to him, crop loss in the State owing to severe drought was estimated at Rs. 16,000 crore. “With the nature’s fury, the plight of people, especially farmers, and that of cattle had increased. I pray to lord Virupaksha, the principal deity of Hampi, to bestow his blessings upon people and bring showers at least now to overcome the shortage of drinking water and fodder for cattle, and provide relief to everyone,” he said.
The government had declared 139 taluks as drought hit, he said, and added that steps were being taken to add more taluks to the list.
Mr. Siddaramaiah said he had directed deputy commissioners to take up drought relief works by according priority to providing drinking water and employment.
The State government had sought Rs. 4,000 crore from the Union government under the National Disaster Relief Fund to tackle the drought.
Later, Mr. Siddaramaiah, along with his Cabinet colleagues, watched cultural programmes performed by renowned artistes, including Nadoja Subhadramma Mansur.
