BIJAPUR: A Congress team, comprising the former Ministers G. Parameshwar, B.K. Chandrashekar and Sageer Ahmed, which is monitoring the drought situation in the State, has said that farmers are continuing to migrate from the State as the Government has failed to provide jobs to them.

The leaders, who were visiting the district to study the progress of drought-relief measures, said that the situation was lamentable. They said that while a few projects had been taken up for the benefit of workers of the ruling parties, the deserving were being neglected.

They said the Union Government had released Rs. 480 crore in funds for drought-relief projects but the State Government had not used even half of it owing to the slow progress of work.

None of the Ministers in charge of districts had been reviewing the drought-relief measures, they said, and added that the Congress wanted Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy to pay random visits to the places where such work was being carried out and ascertain whether the people were being benefited.

A detailed report would be given to Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly N. Dharam Singh and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president M. Mallikarjun Kharge as soon as the team returned to Bangalore early next week. The party would raise the issue during the legislature session beginning on March 14.

Ruling out a "remarriage" of the Congress and the JD(S), they alleged that such a rumour was the result of a conspiracy hatched by JD(S) chief H.D. Deve Gowda.

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