Drought relief: Karnataka CM holds dharna protesting Centre's 'injustice'

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, along with his deputy D K Shivakumar, as well as several ministers and legislators, staged a dharna in Bengaluru on Sunday (April 28), alleging injustice by the union government in the release of drought relief funds to the state.

The state government has declared 226 out of the total 236 Taluks in Karnataka as drought-hit and said there was a crop loss in 48 lakh hectares of land.

SC intervention

According to Siddaramaiah, against the demand for Rs 18,171 crore for drought relief, the union government ordered release of only Rs 3,454 crore, that too after the state was driven to the Supreme Court to get its rights enforced.

The sanction is "woefully inadequate" and just a quarter of the state's demand, he noted.

Displaying 'Chombu', a water pot symbolising emptiness and deception, the leaders charged the Centre with "cheating" Karnataka by not releasing adequate relief to face acute drought, the kind of which was not witnessed in the past several decades.

They held the symbolic dharna in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue on the premises of Vidhana Soudha, which houses the Legislature and Secretariat.

Holding placards and posters that read, “Modi government is betraying Kannadigas”, “Cheating by the Modi government by not releasing adequate grants," the leaders raised slogans condemning the Centre. They also shouted "Go back, go back, Modi go back", as the Prime Minister was on his way to holding four back-to-back public meetings in the state.

Unprecedented drought

Addressing reporters, Siddaramaiah said Karnataka is witnessing an unprecedented drought in the state.

“We haven’t seen a drought like this in 100 years. We had given a memorandum to the Centre in September last year. We were supposed to get the relief amount within a month of submitting the report but we did not get it until we approached the Supreme Court,” the Chief Minister said.

The Congress general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala who too participated in the protest alleged that the Modi government is seeking "revenge" against the people of Karnataka by not releasing the adequate relief amount.

“Modi Govt gives Rs 19 out of Rs 100 demanded for drought hit farmers i.e 19 per cent - Denied Rs 14,718 CR ! Out of Rs 18,172 CR for “Drought Hit Farmers”, a pittance of only Rs 3,454 CR sanctioned after a case filed by Karnataka Govt against Modi Govt in the Supreme Court and on intervention of the Supreme Court,” he said in a post on 'X'.

(With agency inputs)