Date:22/02/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/02/22/stories/2004022201700600.htm

Karnataka

Krishna sees development despite severe drought

By Our Special Correspondent

HAVERI, FEB. 21. The Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, on Saturday said the Government had not allowed development to suffer despite the State suffering severe drought for three successive years.

"We could do this because we had the courage and determination to face the adverse situation," he said.

The Chief Minister was speaking after participating in several functions during his brief visit here.

Mr. Krishna said he was touring the State to give an account of the performance of the Government to the people.

In his 30-minute speech at the Municipal High School Ground, Mr. Krishna said drought had not come in the way of starting new sugar factories, extending the benefits of crop insurance, setting up a revolving fund to ensure that farmers got the minimum support price for their produce, and taking steps to ease the drinking water shortage.

Mr. Krishna said the Government had focussed on opening primary schools, constructing buildings, and posting teachers there. It had also started the midday meal programme for schoolchildren and taken up construction of Ashraya houses in a big way.

The Chief Minister said the Government was able to achieve all this because of better management of resources and this had come in for appreciation by the Reserve Bank of India.

Karnataka was one of the States that had managed finances prudently, he said.

"Our coffers were never empty. Additional resources were mobilised and expenditure was cut down," Mr. Krishna said.

The Government had waived dues that farmers owed to Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. PTCL to the extent of Rs. 230 crore and the sum that was to be waived by the end of March this year would be around Rs. 630 crore, he said and added "we are making good the amount to the KPTCL."

Mr. Krishna said it was his Government which had kept the interests of schoolchildren in mind and introduced the midday meal scheme which had now been extended to students up to Class VII. Karnataka, he said, was perhaps the first State to provide health insurance cover to agricultural labourers whose number was estimated at around one crore.

The State Government had also announced the setting up of an exclusive women's bank for the Stree Shakti Sanghatan, like in Bangladesh.