The Hindu : Rs. 22 cr. for `Food for work' scheme

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 17, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

Rs. 22 cr. for `Food for work' scheme

By Our Special Correspondent

Bangalore May 16. The Cabinet Subcommittee on drought, which met here today, decided to continue drought relief programmes on a war footing. It asked the deputy commissioners of all districts to submit reports to draw up a contingency plan, keeping in mind the seasonal conditions.

Briefing presspersons after the meeting, the Minister for Home, Mallikarjun Kharge, said the State would put forth before the Centre the requirement of foodgrains and funds for drought relief programmes.

The State Government, he said, would release Rs. 22 crore this week as the cash component for the `Food-for-work' programme. The Centre had released 1.35 lakh tonnes of foodgrains, and the deputy commissioners had been directed to ensure the implementation of the programme.

The Union Government, he said, was to release three lakh tonnes of foodgrains but had asked the State to make adjustments against the earlier disbursements. If the seasonal conditions, which appeared bleak, continued, the State would appeal to the Centre again to release additional foodgrains. The situation, he added, would be reviewed at the meeting of ministers of agriculture of all States convened by the Centre on May 28 in Delhi.

With regard to drinking water supply, Mr. Kharge said Rs. 10 crore had been released for rural areas, and the implementing authorities had been directed to disburse it based on priority. Similarly, Rs. 5 crore would be released to municipalities and town panchayats. This was in addition to the budgeted amount of Rs. 15.50 crore for rural water supply. In all, 159 taluks had been affected by drought, he added.

The Finance Department, Mr. Kharge pointed out, had sanctioned Rs. 10 crore for the Food and Civil Supplies Corporation to lift foodgrains from the godowns of the Food Corporation of India. The requirement was Rs. 20 crore.

The Agriculture Department would release Rs. 10 crore in a fortnight for supply of seeds to small farmers. This would benefit over 30 lakh small farmers across the State.

Plea to legislators

Mr. Kharge said that so far, the Government had spent Rs. 370 crore on drought relief programmes, including Rs. 269 crore from the Central pool. He appealed to legislators from all parties not to politicise the drought situation, and said they should pressure the Union Government for release of additional foodgrains. The Centre had released 6.65 lakh tonnes against the State request for 11 lakh tonnes, he added.

The meeting was attended by the ministers, H.K. Patil, K.B. Koliwad, and M. Mallikarjuna Nagappa, the secretaries of the departments of Revenue, Finance, Rural Development, and others. It decided to appeal to all legislators and members of Parliament to allocate funds from the Local Area Development Scheme for drought relief. The appeal would be made by the Chief Minister soon.

To ensure that there was constant review of the drought situation, the secretaries designated to each district would tour the districts and submit reports to the committee.

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