Bengaluru, Nov 5 (PTI) Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Thursday said the state government has decided to provide drought relief of up to Rs 5,000 per farmer as input subsidy, with the first instalment of Rs 2,500 being transferred directly to beneficiaries through DBT.
The remaining Rs 2,500 would be released in the coming days, he said.
Speaking after releasing Rs 17.43 crore as the first instalment of input subsidy to 1,06,462 farmers in Yadgir district at Vidhana Soudha here, Shivakumar said the government was committed to extending assistance to farmers affected by the drought.
“Dasara has ended and Deepavali has arrived. Farmers are in distress. Our government is committed to bringing light into their lives. We have decided to provide Rs 5,000 as relief to each drought-affected farmer. In the first phase, Rs 2,500 is being transferred directly to their accounts through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). The remaining Rs 2,500 will be released in the coming days,” he said, according to the CMO release.
Shivakumar said the process of preparing payment files was under way for 15 more districts, including Uttara Kannada, Kolar, Koppal, Chamarajanagar, Dharwad, Ballari, Bidar, Bengaluru Urban, Haveri, Bengaluru South, Davanagere, Dakshina Kannada, Kalaburagi, Mandya and Vijayanagara.
The first instalment of input subsidy would be distributed to all eligible farmers in these districts at the earliest, he said.
“The second instalment will be released within the next 15 to 20 days. Our government is committed to improving the lives of farmers. We cannot claim that the assistance being provided by the government will completely compensate for their losses, but we are extending whatever support we can,” he said.
He further said that the pending approved input subsidy under the revised norms would be released in a single instalment, subject to applicable eligibility criteria, as soon as the required funds were received from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).
“None of us can recall experiencing or even hearing of such a severe drought in our lifetime. Despite the Centre issuing forecast, barring the Krishna, no other major dam has filled up,” he said.
According to a joint crop damage assessment report, crops had been damaged across 57.93 lakh hectares in Karnataka, the CM said.
He said 226 taluks were declared drought-affected after conducting assessments in accordance with the Centre’s guidelines.
“While declaring 226 taluks drought-affected, we conducted direct assessments and prepared reports in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Central government. We did not yield to pressure from anyone. The declaration was made in accordance with the law after obtaining the approval of the Revenue Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister (G Parameshwara),” he said.
Shivakumar said three Central teams had visited drought-affected areas in Karnataka to assess the situation.
“We wanted to hold discussions with the Opposition parties as well, but politics became more important to them. However, we visited all three administrative divisions and worked towards providing support to the affected farmers,” he said.
Stating that Karnataka had suffered estimated losses of Rs 62,000 crore due to the drought, Shivakumar said a report detailing the losses had been submitted to the Central government.
“It is the responsibility of the Central government to come forward and help farmers in distress. We had announced in the Legislative Assembly that Rs 2,000 would be provided to farmers as crop-loss compensation and have sought Rs 22,400 crore in assistance from the Centre,” he said.
He added that the state government had sought an appointment with the prime minister to discuss the drought situation.
“We have also proposed taking an all-party delegation to meet the PM. We have requested Opposition leaders to accompany us and put pressure on the Centre to secure relief for farmers. We do not know what they will decide,” he said.
Shivakumar said nearly 57 lakh hectares of crops had been damaged, causing substantial losses to farmers.
“After Rajasthan, Karnataka has the largest area of dryland in the country. The state is also facing difficulties in ensuring drinking water supply. We were spending around Rs 20,000 crore on providing free electricity to farmers. Due to the drought, electricity consumption has increased, and we are now compelled to spend around Rs 30,000 crore. Despite spending more, we are facing a situation where adequate electricity is not available,” he said.
Meanwhile, Shivakumar interacted with farmers from Yadgir district through a video conference.
The farmers thanked the chief minister for releasing the drought relief funds to the district. PTI KSU KH
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