Front Page   

Sonia, Cong. CMs meet PM on drought relief

By Anita Joshua

The Congress team, led by the party president, Sonia Gandhi, meeting the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and others in connection with the Centre's assistance to Congress-ruled States suffering from drought, in New Delhi on Monday. — Photo: V. Sudershan

NEW DELHI AUG. 5. A Congress delegation, led by the party president, Sonia Gandhi, today met the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, on drought relief, and according to the Union Agriculture Minister, Ajit Singh, the meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere, with neither side making any accusations.

The Chief Ministers of Delhi, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Karnataka had, on Sunday criticised the Government for `not being even-handed' while providing relief.

Giving details of what transpired at the meeting, Mr. Singh dismissed allegations of step-motherly treatment towards the Opposition-ruled States. Also, according to him, this year's drought was more severe than the one in 1987.

Denying the charge that the Government was showing preferential treatment towards States ruled by its allies, Mr. Singh said Rajasthan had received the maximum of Rs. 80 crores last year while Chhatisgarh was given Rs. 42 crores. As for the criticism that the Government's relief this time round was a perfect case of too little too late, he said the second instalment announced on Sunday under the Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) was two months ahead of schedule.

In its memorandum, the Congress has demanded that the Government declare the drought a national calamity, establish an inter-ministerial crisis management group as was done during the 1987-88 drought; create an all-party committee on drought management to discuss the implementation of drought plans; send Central teams to all affected States immediately; enhance the corpus of the CRF to at least Rs. 10,000 crores; and improve the effectiveness of the national crop insurance scheme.

The Government was represented at the meeting by the Deputy Prime Minister, L. K. Advani; the Food Minister, Sharad Yadav; the Rural Development Minister, Shanta Kumar; and the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, K. C. Pant.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• PM cancels all allotments made after Jan. 2000
• No plan to quit, says Ram Naik
• Sonia, Cong. CMs meet PM on drought relief
• Hurriyat's yes for talks, no to elections
• Haryana IG spotted at party?
• SC stays HC ban on gutka
• Actress fails to appear
• SC notices on Ayodhya case
• Pak. school attacked

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu