In the backdrop of a meeting of chief ministers convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday to discuss the drought situation in the country, efforts will be made to convince Mr. Modi about the condition of farmers and the common man in the State, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said.
Speaking to presspersons here on Friday, he said that the Prime Minister will be appealed to release more funds to take up drought relief works.
Mr. Siddaramaiah said that the State government had appealed to the Union government to release Rs. 3830 crore to take up drought relief works but the Union government released only Rs. 1,560 crore. The State government had taken steps to deposit the compensation in the bank accounts of eligible farmers. A sum of Rs. 69 crore was released to Chitradurga district of which Rs. 67 crore had been deposited in the accounts of farmers.
“Instead of knowing the truth, BJP State president B.S. Yeddyurappa is misguiding the people saying that the State government has not utilised the funds released by the Union government. The entire amount released by the Union government was distributed to all districts depending on the requirement on the same day,” he said.
Answering a question on the early completion of the Upper Bhadra Project, Mr. Siddaramaiah said that separate boards would be set up to ensure speedy completion of the Upper Bhadra and Yettinhole projects and the State government would give the required financial assistance to these boards, Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
District in-charge Minister H. Anjaneya, T. Raghumurthy, B.G. Govindappa, N. Y. Gopalkrishna, MLAs, and Chitradurga Zilla Panchayat president Soubhagya Basavarajan were present.
