K'taka to sell rice at Re 1 per kg from June

Siddaramaiah will introduce Rs 4,409 cr worth populist schemes at his first cabinet meeting immediately after swearing in as CM

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah swung into action on the first day of taking charge. Immediately after swearing in as chief minister, he has decided to implement several populist schemes, which will cause a financial burden of Rs 4,409 crore to the state exchequer, announced in the Congress manifesto before the May 5 Assembly polls.

Briefing reporters after holding the first official meeting with chief secretary and other principal secretaries at Vidhana Soudha, Siddaramaiah decided to sell 30 kg rice at Re 1 per kg for below poverty line families through fair price shops every month with effect from June. He has also decided to give Rs 4 per litre subsidy to milk producers with effect from on Monday (May 13). These two measures would result in an additional  burden of Rs 956 crore.

The government has also decided to increase the housing subsidy to Rs 1.20 lakh per unit from the earlier Rs 75,000 per unit for construction of houses under different government schemes, including Indira Awas Yojana and Ashraya. This would cause a financial burden of Rs 1,960 crore per annum.

“Keeping in mind the state finances we had promised various schemes in our pre-poll manifesto. I have taken a few decisions on Monday for some of them and we will implement all our pre-poll assurances over a period of next four years in phases. All the measures announced on Monday will result into an additional financial burden of Rs 4,409 crore and benefit 13.8 million persons in the state,” Siddaramaiah said.

The chief minister has also decided to waive loans disbursed for undertaking a variety of trades under several government schemes to Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and other backward community people amounting to Rs 1,293 crore. This includes both principal and interest burden as a one-time relief, he said. “There is a need to build 1.2 million houses in Karnataka for the poor. We will provide financial assistance to build 300,000 houses this year and the remaining over a period of five years as promised in our manifesto,” he said.

Earlier, Karnataka Governor HR Bhardwaj administered oath of office and secrecy to Siddaramaiah as the 28th Karnataka Chief Minister at the Kaneetarava outdoor stadium in the city.

About 50,000 people, including newly-elected legislators, Union ministers, family members and relatives of Siddaramaiah, were present at the grand swearing-in ceremony. Among the galaxy of VIPs and political leaders present were central ministers from the state including M Mallikarjun Kharge, M Veerappa Moily, K. Muniyappa and Rehman Khan and chief ministers of Maharashtra Prithviraj Chavan and Andhra Pradesh’s N Kiran Kumar.