Date:22/08/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/08/22/stories/2006082210120400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

State seeks interim aid from Centre to tackle floods, drought

Staff Reporter

Kumaraswamy urges President Kalam to intervene on Karnataka's behalf

AN APPEAL TO KALAM: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam receiving a memorandum from Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy (second from left), Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa (right) and Minister for Higher Education D.H. Shankaramurthy in Bangalore on Mon day. — Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

BANGALORE: Karnataka on Monday complained to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam that the Centre had not release interim assistance to the State to tackle the situation caused by floods in some districts. It utilised the visit of the President to the State to seek his intervention in the matter.

Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy submitted a request to the President as also the two memorandums to the Centre seeking assistance for flood and drought relief measures. In its appeal to the President, the Government noted that it had been reported that the Centre had announced the release of an interim relief of Rs. 200 crore each to Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh even before Central teams visited those States. In two separate memorandums to the Centre, the Government had sought financial assistance of Rs. 906.70 crore and Rs. 500 crore from the Centre for taking up flood and drought relief works respectively.

Mr. Kumaraswamy urged Dr. Kalam to intervene in the matter to ensure the immediate release of Rs. 100 crore as interim relief.

Problems

Explaining the problems being faced by the State owing to floods in the Bhima and Krishna basins and the persisting overall drought situation in the State, Mr. Kumaraswamy urged the President to ask the Centre to extend assistance to the State immediately.

The State had experienced drought consecutively for four years between 2001 and 2004. During 2005, the State experienced unprecedented floods. This year too, in July and August, the State had experienced floods of disaster-like proportions causing severe damage to infrastructure and loss of crops on a massive scale in several districts. The districts affected by floods, with the exception of Belgaum, had received little or no rainfall in the two months. "The floods are the result of heavy releases from reservoirs along the Krishna and the Bhima in Maharashtra to Karnataka," he said.

The State had already released Rs. 58 crore for immediate rescue and relief works in the flood-affected areas of North Karnataka. But the Centre was yet to respond to the pleas of the State.

Giving a detailed account of the drought, the Chief Minister said the State required three lakh tonnes of foodgrains for generating employment. It would require financial assistance of Rs. 500 crore to tackle the situation, which was deteriorating day by day, he said.

Later, Mr. Kumaraswamy told presspersons that Dr. Kalam had given him a patient hearing and promised that he would take up the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

He said the State had urged the Centre to extend its support in the following areas to combat drought: extend the last date for crop insurance till the end of August 2006; release a subsidy of Rs. 30 crore for the remaining kharif season; and make the Vidharbha package given to Maharashtra applicable to farmers of Chitradurga district, which was facing a dry spell.

Special support should be extended to the 13 districts from where a total of 218 cases of farmers' suicide were reported.

Special support from the Centre had become imperative for the State to take up measures such as employment generation, nutrition programmes, removing silt from irrigation tanks and extension of loans to farmers, he added.