Drought relief from Centre not even a quarter of what Karnataka asked: CM
Responding to the drought relief announced by the Union government to Karnataka on Saturday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that the amount released was not even a quarter of what the Centre was supposed to release as per the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).
“Standing crops on 48 lakh hectares were destroyed in the drought in the State. The loss is to the tune of ₹35,000 crore. We submitted the drought report to the Union government in September 2023. As per the NDRF norms, the Union government was supposed to release ₹18,172 crore to the State to take up drought relief measures. Now, it has released only ₹3,454 crore after we moved the Supreme Court. It is less than even a quarter of the amount to be paid as per the NDRF norms,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said in Kalaburagi on Saturday and added that he would consult the senior ocials and take a nal call on the issue.
Continuing his tirade against the Centre, he said: “We asked for drought relief for the State as per
NDRF norms. But, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that we had asked funds not for taking up drought relief but for implementing our guarantee schemes. We never asked a penny for the guarantee schemes nor would we ask it in the future,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
Responding to a query, he said the Supreme Court had not decided the drought relief amount but asked both Union and State governments to settle it mutually. “The case was posted for April 28 for the next hearing. The Centre has released a small portion of the relief amount a day before,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said.