Rs 2,600 cr sought for drought-relief

Karnataka has sought Rs 2,600 crore from the Centre towards drought-relief works and an all-party delegation would be taken to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to press him for the release of the funds early. Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Jagadish Shettar, who chaired a meeting of district-level task force here on Friday, said the state government has already submitted a proposal to the Union Rs 2,600 crore for drought-relief works in the affected villages.

He informed that so far the government has relea-sed Rs 182 crore under the Calamity Relief Fund (CRF), of which Rs 126 crore is the contribution from the Centre and Rs 42.6 crore is the contribution from the state. In addition to this, the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department has allocated Rs 172.46 crore for drought-relief works while the department of animal husbandry and department of urban development have earmarked Rs 4.98 crore and Rs 10 crore respectively for the purpose.

The minister claimed that the works were progressing well and were satisfactory. Chief Minister Sadanand Gowda has convened a high-level meeting on April 19 in Bangalore to review the progress of the drought-relief works taken up in the state. The meeting would focus on the crop losses due to the drought-like conditions and the immediate relief works to be launched. After the meeting, an all-party delegation would be taken to Delhi.

Shettar said, the government has set up teams comprising of ministers to study the drought situation in the different areas and to monitor the relief works. The team, headed by Shettar, which toured some districts in North Karnataka recently submitted a report to Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda seeking the allotment of Rs 30 lakh each to the taluk-level task force committee and the CM had responded positively and released the funds.

Apart from this, the government allotted Rs 30 lakh additional funds to each Assembly constituency to launch drinking water and fodder procurement.

The study team will visit the affected areas in Dharwad district on April 17 and would visit Davanagere and Gadag on April 20 and April 21. Shettar said, Bijapur is the worst-affected.