Southern States - Karnataka   

Nab Veerappan, Advani tells Karnataka

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI DEC. 13. The Deputy Prime Minister, L.K.Advani, today asked Karnataka to take steps to apprehend the forest brigand, Veerappan, and promised help from the Centre in this regard.

Mr. Advani told a delegation of State Cabinet sub-committee, led by the Home Minister, M.Mallikarjuna Kharge, that Karnataka and Tamil Nadu should coordinate action against Veerappan.

Mr. Kharge told presspersons that the Chief Minister, S.M.Krishna, had written to the Prime Minister, A.B.Vajpayee, urging him to call a meeting of the Chief Ministers of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to draw up a plan for better coordination.

"Our aim is to catch Veerappan dead or alive," Mr Kharge said, rejecting the demand for a CBI probe into the killing of the former minister, H.Nagappa.

Mr. Kharge refuted reports that a second body was found from the forest. "There was no body and not a single person is missing from our forces," he said. People living in the nearby areas were aware that no one was allowed to enter the forest.

Mr. Kharge was here primarily to seek assistance for relief work in drought-hit areas.

In a two-page letter to Mr. Advani, the delegation said the State had sought Rs. 1,562.85 crores earlier and had so far been sanctioned Rs. 171.82 crores from the National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF). The State asked for permission to use Calamity Relief Fund to sink borewells in areas reeling under water scarcity. The State sought three lakh tonnes of rice under the food-for-work programme.

Mr. Advani said the issue would be considered when the task force on drought met next week. The delegation called on the Union Agriculture Minister, Ajit Singh, with a similar demand. Mr. Kharge said the latter had assured the team that the foodgrains would be released on a monthly basis depending on the State's demand. The delegation apprised the minister of the problems of sugarcane growers in the State and sought changes in export-import policy to help reduce sugar stocks.

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