Bengaluru, Sep 9 (PTI) Karnataka will distribute 15 lakh residential sites free of cost to people without houses across the state, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara said on Wednesday.
The state Cabinet has decided to provide 50,000 sites in every district, with priority given to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, backward classes, minorities and other poor people without houses or residential sites, he said.
“We have decided to provide 50,000 sites in every district, which would amount to around 15 lakh sites across the state. This is to be provided free of cost by the government and is an unprecedented scale of distribution,” Parameshwara told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.
The first phase will cover five lakh sites, followed by another five lakh each in the second and third phases. Around 10,000 acres of land have already been identified, while deputy commissioners have been instructed to identify and develop additional land, he said.
The Cabinet has also taken an in-principle decision to develop SC/ST colonies, many of which, he said, continue to lack drinking water, roads, drainage and toilets.
The government has further decided, in principle, to provide 10,000 vehicles in the first year and another 10,000 in the second year under relevant programmes, aimed at generating employment and supporting livelihoods.
On the drought situation, Parameshwara said 101 taluks had already been declared drought-affected, with ground-truthing under way in another 42. Assessment had been completed in 24 taluks, and the remaining 18 would be completed within two days, after which they would be notified.
“The entire state is facing a severe drought-like situation,” he said. The assessment would continue until the end of the monsoon, and the number of drought-affected taluks could exceed 223, compared with more than 200 last year, he said.
Parameshwara said the government was following drought-assessment criteria prescribed by the Centre in 2020, based on factors including satellite imagery, soil moisture, rainfall, vegetation cover and consecutive dry spells.
“We have not manually selected these areas or acted under any influence,” he said, adding that he and the CM (D K Shivakumar) had sought relaxation of the criteria from the Centre but received no positive response.
The state will send its first memorandum to the Centre within two or three days. More memoranda could follow as different taluks meet the prescribed criteria at different stages, he said.
In the 101 taluks already declared drought-affected, the estimated crop loss was around Rs 18,000 crore. The amount to be sought from the Centre, however, would be calculated according to National Disaster Response Fund guidelines, Parameshwara said.
He recalled that last year’s estimated crop loss was around Rs 39,000 crore, while Karnataka had sought Rs 18,000 crore under NDRF norms. Following protests and a Supreme Court intervention, around Rs 3,500 crore was eventually released by the Centre.
“I believe the situation will not be the same this time. I hope the Centre will recognise our demand,” he said.
Around 49 lakh farmers have registered for crop insurance, with compensation to be calculated based on the crop and acreage as per applicable norms.
Parameshwara also said the state would request the Centre to consider a farm loan waiver, recalling that the Congress-led government under former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had waived Rs 72,000 crore in farm loans nationally.
“The loan-waiver issue will not be included in this memorandum. The state government can take its own decision after examining its financial position,” he said.
Responding to a question on whether he would travel to Delhi to submit the memorandum, Parameshwara said the first memorandum would be sent by the state government.
“When the final memorandum is submitted, the CM, I and all of us will go. An all-party delegation will go,” he said. PTI GMS SSK
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