Karnataka seeks Rs 2,000 crore NREGA dues from Centre

Drought-hit Karnataka sought the intervention of the four Union ministers and newly-elected BJP Lok Sabha members from the state in securing funds from the central government earmarked for development works under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), a senior official said on Monday.

"Congratulating the four Union Ministers from the state, including Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, a Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy urged them to prevail upon the Centre to get NREGA funds released as the state was reeling under severe drought," an official of the Chief Minister's Office told IANS here.

The three other Union Ministers from the state are BJP members D.V.S. Sadananda Gowda from Bangalore North Lok Sabha seat, Prahlad Joshi from Dharwad and Suresh Angadi from Belgaum in the northeast region.

"I welcome the statements of Union Ministers @DVSBJP and @JoshiPrahlad that they will support the developments of our state. I request them also to make the Centre release the pending Rs 2,000 crore due to the state for NREGA works," tweeted Kumaraswamy in English and Kannada earlier in the day.

The chief minister also assured the ministers and the lawmakers to provide them details of the various works being implemented under NREGA.

"In the absence of funds from the Centre, the state government has been paying the beneficiaries their dues to mitigate the hardships they are facing due to severe drought," added the official.

The chief minister also agreed to give details of NREGA works underway to the Union ministers and MPs ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament from July 18 to August 10.

Of the 28 Lok Sabha seats, the ruling Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and the Congress faced a rout winning only one seat each in the general election that was held in the state on April 18 and April 23.

JD-S retained Hassan and Congress won Bangalore Rural.

Though both the allies fielded joint candidates in the ratio of 21 seats to the Congress and seven to the JD-S, they lost 20 and six seats, respectively.

--IANS

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