Karnataka - Gulbarga   

High-level meet today

Special Correspondent

GULBARGA: Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Thursday said Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy had convened a meeting of senior officials and Ministers in Bangalore on Friday to take stock of the flood and drought situation in the State.

Addressing presspersons here after conducting an aerial survey of the flood and drought-hit areas in Afzalpur taluk along the Bhima river belt, Mr. Yediyurappa said that the meeting would discuss the prevailing situation and also the lacklustre response of the Union Government to the memorandum submitted by the State seeking release of Rs. 1,506 crore to provide relief to the people.

The future course of action and the need to bring pressure on the Union Government would also be taken at the meeting.

The State was not to be blamed for the floods. It was due to the excess rainfall and heavy release of water from the reservoirs in Maharashtra that contributed to the floods.

In fact, many parts had not recorded even average rainfall this year and most of the State was affected by drought, the Deputy Chief Minister said.

As per the latest information, more than 122 taluks were facing drought.

Reports

Mr. Yediyurappa said that the deputy commissioners of all districts had been asked to send detailed reports about the condition of the crops and also about rainfall to declare the affected taluks as drought-hit and take up the relief works immediately.

He said that in Chitradurga, Davangere, Gulbarga, Raichur and Bidar districts, where the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme was being implemented, all the drought relief works would have to be taken up under the scheme since the Jawahar Rozgar Yojana had been discontinued in these districts.

However, due to the low minimum wages fixed under the scheme the people were not coming forward to take up the work offered to them.

Hence, the State Government had pleaded with the Union Government for an upward revision of the minimum wages fixed under the scheme.

However, he ruled out the State Government contributing excess amount to the minimum wages under the scheme to make it more acceptable to the people.

Mr. Yediyurappa dismissed the charges levelled by the Congress leaders that the Government was indifferent in taking up relief measures in the affected areas and said that the Congress should function like a responsible Opposition and bring pressure on the Union Government to release funds to Karnataka.

Crop loans

He said that the farmers had largely benefited by the State Government's decision to extend crop loans at 4 per cent interest. As against Rs. 750-crore loan provided in cooperative banks last year, so far more than Rs. 1,500 crore had been extended as crop loans to the farmers and as per the estimates this figure was likely to go up to Rs. 3,500 crore by the end of the year. Referring to the loss of agriculture crops in floods in Gulbarga district, he said that as per preliminary estimates standing crops in 18,266 hectares had been lost.

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