The Union government has not released crop loss compensation to drought-hit farmers in Karnataka as the Congress government has delayed submission of documents including various statistics, A.S. Patil Nadahalli, BJP Raitha Morcha State Unit president said in Belagavi on Saturday.
It is a sad fact that a severe drought has gripped the State. But the State government has not acted in accordance with National Disaster Relief Fund norms to see that the Centre releases compensation to farmers. But then, why should the state wait for central aid? Why can it not release compensation by itself, he asked. He told reporters that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had failed the farmers as he had not released even a rupee in crop loss compensation. No relief works have been started. The Congress government has either scrapped some pro-farmer schemes or stopped their funding.
The Congress government has stopped additional incentives under the Kisan Samman scheme. It has also failed to keep its poll promise of raising the milk producers’ incentive by ₹2 per litre, he said.
He claimed that the Union government had accorded all approval to the Kalasa Banduri project, but the State was not taking steps to go ahead with the project. “It is not inviting tenders as it has no money. All the projects are pending. Very soon, it will have no money to pay salaries to government employees,” he said.
