‘FIRST TIME IN THE HISTORY…’: KARNATAKA CM SIDDARAMAIAH SAYS BIG THANK YOU TO SC

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Saturday that the Union Government has agreed to release Rs 3,498.82 crore drought relief assistance to the state due to the intervention of the Supreme Court. In a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter, the Karnataka CM thanked the top court and said that it was perhaps the first time in the history of the country that the state was forced to the “driven to the Supreme Court to get its rights enforced.”

In his post, Siddaramaiah wrote, “After persistent efforts & an appeal to the Supreme Court, we've secured ₹3,498.82 crore in drought relief from the Union Government. I wish to thank the Hon. Supreme Court. This is perhaps the first time in the history of India that a state was driven to the Supreme Court to get its rights enforced.”

However, Siddaramaiah expressed dissatisfaction with the amount, stating that the Karnataka government had requested Rs. 18,000 crore but received only Rs. 3,498.98 crore. He posted, “The office of the Home Minister finally woke up after the Hon. Supreme Court rang the bell. Finally, some justice has been done to our farmers. However, the sanction is woefully inadequate. We had asked for Rs 18,000 crores and we have got 3498.98 crores!”

The Ministry of Finance approved the release of funds for relief assistance for the 2023 Karnataka drought on Friday. Earlier, in its plea, the Karnataka government requested the Supreme Court to direct the Centre to make a final decision and release the financial assistance from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to the state.

The plea claimed that Karnataka is currently facing a severe drought, which is impacting the lives of its citizens. “For the Kharif 2023 season as a whole, after fulfilling all the indicators of the Manual for Drought Management 2020, a total of 223 out of 236 taluks are declared drought-affected during Kharif 2023, with 196 taluks categorised as severely affected and the remaining 27 categorized as moderately affected,” the petition read.

It further stated that crop failures and reduced water availability have affected domestic, agricultural, and industrial-hydel energy water supply in the region.

(With inputs from Agencies)

2024-04-27T13:34:27Z dg43tfdfdgfd