Expressing discontentment over what according to him is the Union government’s reluctance to release drought relief to farmers of Karnataka, Agriculture Minister N. Cheluvarayaswamy has said that the State has all rights to get drought relief.
“Karnataka contributes ₹4 lakh crore to the Union government’s tax revenues annually. But, it gets back only ₹30,000 crore from the Union government. We are in a federal system. It is our right to get drought relief. The Union government should understand this and immediately release drought relief. Even though the Union government did not release any amount to be disbursed to affected farmers, the State government has already released the required amount for providing drinking water to people and fodder to their cattle,” the Minister told a meeting in Ballari on Wednesday.
The meeting was organised at the conference hall of the Deputy Commissioner’s office to review the progress of work under Agriculture Department.
