Southern States - Karnataka   

Ananth denies discrimination against Cong.-ruled States

By Our Special Correspondent

YADGIR (GULBARGA DT.) July 12. The President of the State unit of the BJP, H.N.Ananth Kumar, today reiterated that the Centre had not discriminated against Congress-ruled States in providing foodgrains. He said the release of foodgrains depended on the utilisation certificates submitted by State governments and the ground realities in the States.

Refuting the charge of the State Government that the Centre was adopting a stepmotherly attitude towards Congress-ruled States, Mr. Kumar told presspersons here that the track record of the Karnataka Government in utilising the foodgrains already released by the Centre for taking up drought relief works had not been good, and there were many complaints, including pilferage.

Mr. Kumar said that the Superintendent of Police (Lokayukta) had reported that in at least seven districts, foodgrains had not been properly utilised, and even the KPCC President, B.Janardhana Poojary, had acknowledged that the drought relief works in the worst-affected districts were not up to expectations.

He said that the State had received 70,000 truckloads of foodgrains from the Centre, and at least 500 truckloads each should have reached the more than 150 drought-hit taluks, but that had not happened.

He also disputed the figures provided by the State Government on the utilisation of 6.65 lakh tonnes of foodgrains released so far, and said that according to the figures available with the Centre only 5.48 lakh tonnes of foodgrains of the 6.65 lakh tonnes released had been utilised. Besides, Mr. Kumar said the Centre had released 55,000 tonnes more for July.

Asked why the Centre had released three lakh tonnes and one lakh tonnes of foodgrains to Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, respectively, despite the two States having received more than the normal rainfall after the onset of the monsoon, Mr. Kumar admitted that Karnataka had received less than the normal rainfall, but said that the release of foodgrains depended on their utilisation.

Mr. Kumar said he was ready to support the State Government to pressure the Centre to release more aid. The State BJP chief said he had even told the Chief Minister, S.M.Krishna, and the Home Minister, Mallikarjun Kharge, who is the Chairman of the Cabinet subcommittee on drought, that he was prepared to join them in a delegation to meet the Prime Minister, A.B.Vajpayee, and the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K.Advani, to seek more assistance for the State. "There is no dearth of support from the BJP to bring pressure on the Centre to provide more funds for tackling drought in the State," he said.

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